Inevitable
by Ameji
Summary: Amejisuto Ishi has asked Itachi Uchiha for help in training her to become a better ninja, but the requirements are more than what she could imagine. In the back round, the evil Akatsuki organization want to capture Itachi for plans of their own... OcXItachi, Non-massacre. I don't own anything
1. Prologue

**_Welcome to my first Naruto fanfic on this site (I think. I might check later if I wrote anything else) ^_^  
So, don't hate me but this is a OC x Itachi story (the OC is me except way awesomer)_**

_**The side pairings are:**_  
_**Sasuke x Naruto**_  
**_Slight Sakura x Sai _**

**_I will only update 1-3 chapters a week depending on my mood; most likely on Fridays._**

**_If I used any Japanese stuff wrong, please tell me. It's the first story I wrote with them in it. _**

**_So, please enjoy the story :) _**

**_I don't own anything except Amejisuto Ishi and maybe some other OC's here and there.  
_**

* * *

_**PROLOGUE**_

"Itachi-san!"

The raven haired ANBU member, Itachi Uchiha, looked around through the crowded streets of Konohagakure, instantly spotting the familiar person who called him and walking over to her. "Ah, Amejisuto-chan a pleasant surprise, are you looking for my brother?"

The brunette shook her head. "After all this time, please just call me Eimi-chan. And why would I be looking for Sasuke-kun?" she laughed.

Itachi smiled in amusement. "Maybe because he's one of your best friends and your teammate?"

"No, he's probably training with Naru-chan. They're so predictable and inseparable so I know how to find them both easily. I was actually looking for you," She stopped and looked around after getting bumped into, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the crowds, even though it was explainable due to it being a Saturday. "Can we go somewhere quieter?"

The Uchiha nodded and signaled Eimi to follow him, leading them both to disappear quickly from the streets and reappear at the Uchiha clan compound. "Would this be suitable?" He asked. Amejisuto looked around and smiled at the charm of that part of town. The houses were all old fashioned, left in white and brown painted wood. The homes had an exclusive and fancy style, fitting the clan perfectly.

The police department was near the front gate; the Uchihas were known to be the main police force. Everyone had different theories on why, but no one ever openly questioned it. Next was a bakery, a few small stores that specialised in items for the clan, and the rest was pretty much the fancy houses.

They walked through the streets and reached the clan leader's house, which also happened to be inhabited by Itachi and Sasuke, the leader's sons. It was the biggest house in the compound. From the outside, it looked like there were several houses that were connected. There were visible halls and paths to different parts of the house. It was still traditional but more modern than the other homes. Itachi led her around the house to the back garden.

Amejisuto sat on the back porch, facing the pretty garden filled with herbs, flowers and berry bushes, while Itachi got some tea and brought it out. "It's been a while since we've talked like this. So, what is it that you need?" He asked while pouring two cups and handing one to his guest.

"Well, Itachi-san, as you probably know, I've been a member of Team 7 for a year since Sai-san was assigned to help with the ANBU ROOT catastrophe," she paused and took a sip of tea, noting on how it tasted so fresh. _'Probably from the garden,'_ she thought.

"Sasuke doesn't say much about your team, but Naruto has told me a few times of your situation," Itachi nodded, listening intently. She could ask anything, and he would probably help, no matter what the cost.

"It's not like I hate being on Kakashi-san's team, it's just that... Well, Sakura-chan and Naruto-kun have been trained by the legendary sannin, Sasuke-kun is an Uchiha with great abilities and Kakashi-san has even been nominated for Hokage twice, and-"

"And you're feeling useless and weak compared to them?" Itachi finished for her. She nodded and looked out to the peaceful garden.

"I'm part of the Ishi clan, the masters of nature. I'm a Jonin already, yet I'm the weakest link in my team," she whispered.

"So what do you need?" Itachi already had a general idea of what she was going to ask.

A few moments of silence passed between them as the girl thought about the best way to ask something so time consuming and personal of Itachi. She looked up at him with determination in her purple eyes. "I would like to be your student."

He smiled warmly. "I have the time, patience and experience necessary, and I'm perfectly willing to, but there are a few things you'll have to do. Tomorrow, I will get the Hokage to explain them to you. For now, I suggest that you rest up and spend time with close family," he suggested. They finished their tea in silence, enjoying the peace in the village and being completely aware that their lives will forever be changed.

* * *

A shadowed figure stepped into the dim light of the cave, joining nine others. Not all were completely human. A man came out of the ground, surrounded by what looked like a huge Venus fly trap's mouth. He was split in half diagonally. One half of him was white, the other was black.

"It took you long enough, Leader-sama," the black half said in a deep creepy voice.

"What did you learn while you were scouting, Zetsu," the first figure said. He had orange spiked hair, several piercings, ringed purple eyes, and a black cloak with red clouds that the rest of the gathered group also wore as members of the Akatsuki.

"It will be harder to get to him now. He's surrounded by ninja," the white half spoke almost playfully.

"Ugh, Zetsu still creeps me out with his split personalities. Un," whispered a man with blue eyes and long blonde hair half pulled into a ponytail to a red haired and hazel-eyed man.

"Shut up and listen to the report, Deidara. My patience is thin enough already," the redhead growled.

"Sasori, time is money and wasting money is a sin," a tall scary looking man with only cat-like eyes showing lectured darkly.

"Stop scaring the kids, Kakuzu," a blue shark-like man with a huge wrapped sword smirked.

"Speak for yourself, Kisame. You scare the hell out of people," a man with a scythe and slicked back white hair cursed.

"Watch your language or I will kill you," the only woman threatened. She had blue hair with an origami flower on it and gold eyes, and was second in command.

"You know I can't die, Konan-sama," the man spat back.

"Tobi's being a good boy, right Orochimaru-senpai?" A childish man with black hair and an orange lollipop mask tugged on another man, who had long black hair, gold eyes, and resembled a snake.

"Just get on with it," the man with orange hair ordered. Everyone fell silent and continued to listen to the scary plant man, all scheming a new plan to get the target: Itachi Uchiha.


	2. Chapter 1

**_Well you made it past the prologue :D_**

**_Itachi: You make me too nice -.-_**

**_Me: That's because you're nicer than you think ;D_**

**_Itachi: ..._**

**_Sasuke: Why are you typing our conversation on here?_**

**_Me: Don't act like you don't know. It's for the exact same reason that you write up whatever Naruto's saying to show off how you have an adorable idiot._**

**_Sasuke: That.. That's dumb. I do NOT do that! And we aren't adorable idiots!_**

**_Itachi: Even YOU'RE smart enough to figure out she isn't thinking that of us. Foolish little brother._**

**_Me: lol. SASUKE'S IN DENIAL! Sorry for my spamming ^_^_**

**_Naruto: Noone owns anything! _**

**_Me: *coughSasukeownsyoucough*_**

**_Naruto: Huh?_**

**_Me: Nothing._**

* * *

_**Chapter 1**_

The next day found the original members of Team 7 getting ready to spar in their usual training grounds, a grassy field surrounded by trees. Sasuke Uchiha was wrapping his wrists with bandages so he could practise his version of Rock Lee's _Primary Lotus_ move. Naruto Uzumaki was making sure the nine tailed demon fox wouldn't aid in his fight, since it was just sparring and he wasn't in real danger. Sakura Haruno, the team medic with intense strength, was putting on her battle gloves and the team leader, Kakashi Hatake, was reading his usual perverted Icha-Icha paradise novel.

"Hey, has anyone seen Ame-chan?" Naruto asked once he was finished with his previous conversation.

"I saw her yesterday, but that's it. How about you, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura turned to the Uchiha who was barely paying attention.

"She and Aniki were together yesterday, but I haven't seen either of them today," Sasuke shrugged, not showing his curiosity of to where his brother ran off to. He hadn't seen him at breakfast either...

Kakashi laughed and decided to have a little bit of fun with his former students and test their skills at the same time. "I heard that they were madly in love and are running away together to Suna." The three teens stiffened and Kakashi smirked. "Oh Sasuke, poor Sasuke, not even knowing that his brother was a slave to love. Don't be sad, it happens to the best of us," the Jonin sighed dramatically.

"Eimi-chan wouldn't leave like that without telling us!" Sakura cried. **'Yah, she would also tell us if she was in love! Right?' **Her inner Sakura questioned.

Sasuke sighed and pouted. "Maybe they did. Aniki wouldn't say anything at all. He would probably just leave a note."

"Why would they abandon us? We have to go get them back otherwise Bachan will mark them as rogue ninja!" Naruto yelled eager to go set things straight with his 'little sister'.

"They might still be at the gates. We should go check," Kakashi said, amused at his teams panicking. He knew for a fact that the two were there but only because he saw them on his way to the training grounds. He followed as the younger ninja ran to the village gates, where they spotted the two ninja talking to the gate guards.

Sakura and Naruto pounced on Amejisuto while Sasuke tried and failed to pounce on his bother, who moved just a few inches out of his reach. "Nisan, why are you doing this to us? And why did you choose Eimi-chan?" He asked.

"What's going on?" Amejisuto gasped as two older ninja wrapped themselves around her legs childishly, preventing her from moving.

"Don't leave us! You're too fun to leave!" They cried, refusing to let go as she tried to shake them off. They were almost as bad as the weights that Rock Lee and Guy-sensei wore on their legs and arms at all times.

"Sensei, could you please help me?" A slightly frustrated Amejisuto called to Itachi, feeling awkward and crowded since her personal space was invaded without permission. The older Uchiha nodded and took out two kunai knives, silently threatening to chop the invaders off. Sakura and Naruto backed away slowly after letting go of their teammate's legs.

Sasuke's eyes widened as his teammates words clicked in his mind. "_Sensei_!?" He stared in shock at his brother. Kakashi couldn't hold in his laughter any longer. He started snickering, which was really creepy.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's so funny?" Asked Sakura.

"Such gullible students. How many times have I taught you to see through deception and not let your emotions affect your judgement?" He said, making the others realise he was just messing with them and turn red with embarrassment.

Amejisuto inched close to Itachi. "Do you have any clue what they're talking about?" She whispered.

Kakashi overheard her and smirked under his mask. "I told them you two were lovers and ran away to Suna."

Amejisuto choked on air, blushed and moved away from the raven in embarrassment. Itachi just stared at Kakashi like he was a boring peice of ninja. "Why would you tell them something like that?" The brunette coughed.

"Because their reactions were priceless. Instant complaining and pouting, and most of the pouting was done by a certain Uchiha," everyone looked at Sasuke, who gave them a 'my pride is hurt' look. Itachi shook his head and sighed. _'Foolish little brother,'_ he thought.

"Well anyways, this is an unusual surprise. Why are you calling him sensei?" The pink haired girl asked.

"I was feeling like a weak link on our team, and since everyone was trained by a Kage or Sannin, I decided I would ask the only person that matched or even exceeded their skills," she pointed at the ANBU captain, "The legendary Itachi Uchiha."

Sakura nodded in understanding. "I was once the weakest member and then asked Shishou to train me as a medic nin. It's a good idea to train with someone super skilled."

Naruto seemed a bit sad. "I never knew you felt that way, Ame-chan," he sulked, feeling bad that he hadn't noticed his friend's distress. Sasuke sighed and looked away.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to train her. She's better than most people," he said to Itachi.

"Kakashi-san, we need to go to Hokage-sama to get permission of me taking her on as an Uchiha apprentice and off of Team 7. Do you give your approval?" Itachi asked.

Kakashi waved his hand and smiled. "Go ahead, take her away and make her a stronger woman." With a nod, the older Uchiha gave a signal for the young brunette to follow him, and they disappeared, leaping off of the rooftops.

"Something about what he said reminds me of a man requesting a woman's father for permission to marry," Sakura laughed.

"There's some rule about training someone not in the Uchiha clan. I don't remember it, but I can't believe that Aniki would go through all that trouble," Sasuke mumbled.

"Teme, it's called being nice and training someone who asked for his help," Naruto said sarcastically.

"Like you would know, dobe. You had to beg Jiraiya-sama for a week and do your _sexy jutsu_ every few hours to keep him interested," the raven haired boy shot back.

"Guys, kiss, make up, and let's go train," Sakura interrupted their soon-to-be fight, and ran back to the training fields with the boys following her.

"Not a couple!" They both shouted at the same time.

"Sure, sure," Sakura laughed. "But it would be awesome if you were. You two are the cutest!"

Kakashi followed them silently, wishing that the days when they cared if he was there or not could come back.

* * *

The Akatsuki meeting was finally over and everyone separated into their own teams. Most left to do some extra missions or spar outside. The leaders slunk away after watching everyone leave. "Nagato-kun, do you really think it's a good idea to try to persuade a pacifist to join the Akatsuki?" Konan asked the orange haired man. They walked through their hideout: A series of underground tunnels that Orochimaru got his summoned snakes to carve. Pain and Konan were going in the main office-like room.

"Itachi Uchiha is the most powerful ninja in Konohagakure. We must have him," Nagato/Pain answered.

"But Zetsu reported that he's surrounded by family and has an apprentice now! It would be almost impossible to get him alone."

"No, he will have times when he is away from everyone. We must strike then."

"It won't be easy," they were interrupted by the man with the orange mask walking in. His voice was about an octave lower than when he was around everyone else and acting like a hyper little kid. "The Uchiha clan has strict rules for apprentices, especially if the apprentice hails from another strong clan. The chances of him being alone will be extremely rare."

Konan and Nagato/Pain narrowed their eyes. "Please explain, Madara-sama..."


	3. Chapter 2

**I was so used to updating once a day it feels like forever since I last posted anything :p  
Chapter 2 is here! Woo! Sorry for a shorter chapter xD  
Oh, and thanks to all who followed and favorite the first night I posted, you are awesome!  
I just realised I use some Japanese words and honorifics but I forgot to keep the whole Japanese-style thing the whole way through so I still write 'thanks' instead of 'arigato' but still use 'ohayo' and that kind of stuff. I confuse me sometimes... Heh heh..**

**Sasuke: Yah, yah, just get to the story!**

**Naruto: Stop being a jerk, Teme.**

**Sakura: Both of you shut up and let people read before I punch you both out!**

**Itachi: Uh... Well no one but Kishimoto owns any of us**

**Me: Except for me. I own me xD**

**Everyone: ... Moving on...**

* * *

"Tsunade-sama will see you now," the Hokage's black-haired assistant, Shizune, let Itachi and Amejisuto into the Hokage's office, revealing a very tired Tsunade with her face down in a pile of paperwork.

"What is it now," she mumbled before looking up and smirking, which didn't seem as mischievous as she meant it due to the black bags under her eyes. "Have you finally chosen someone to marry into the prestigious Uchiha clan, Itachi-kun?"

"Hokage-sama, we are here because Amejisuto-chan requested to be my apprentice yesterday, and I have agreed," Itachi stated. Tsunade clasped her hands in front of her and rested her chin on them.

"I see. Has Kakashi-kun agreed to this?"

"Yes, I talked to him about it just a few minutes ago."

Tsunade pulled open a drawer and took out a sheet. "Get the leaders of the clans to sign this. It's a special arrangement for Uchiha apprentices not of the clan. There are special circumstances. Amejisuto-chan, has Itachi-kun told you about them yet?" She asked.

"No, he only told me that I should listen to you carefully," Amejisuto shrugged. "Whatever it is, it will be worth it."

Tsunade sighed and turned serious. "First, you must understand that the Uchiha clan usually keep to themselves in training and techniques, and outsiders only get the privilege to witness it, but are never able to master anything like it without proper training," she started. The brunette nodded intently, ready to do whatever was asked of her.

"You will be taking on all those secrets, and part of your training would be reading up on the Uchiha clan history. Your life could be put in danger to figure out what you would know, since you would be well known due to the fact that barely anyone has successfully become an apprentice of the Uchihas. You would have to move into your mentor's home. You would live your life as an Uchiha, but without the sharingan, and you would also mainly use Uchiha as your last name unless birth records are required," Tsunade explained.

Amejisuto stood in shock for a moment, and looked back and forth between the Hokage and the ANBU captain. "So basically, I'll be an Uchiha and have to brush up on history and traditions?" The two nodded. The Ishi smiled. "Great! History was always my best subject in the academy."

Her answer seemed to stun the Hokage before she broke into a wide grin and started to chuckle. "Itachi-kun, please get your father and the Ishi clan leader," she asked. Twenty minutes filled with chatting about Team 7 later, Itachi and his father entered the room, followed by a middle aged blonde woman who was mute.

"So this is Amejisuto Ishi?" Fugaku walked around the girl, looking at her with his sharingan. "Impressive. Well, for a Senju descendant."

"She would like to become an Uchiha apprentice, Fugaku-san," Tsunade mentioned.

"My son has explained the situation, and I approve now that I've had a good look at her. The Ishi clan has quite the chakra reserves," Fugaku commented, making his son narrow his eyes suspiciously at him.

"Do you approve of you daughter living with the Uchihas, Sirami-san?" The Ishi leader nodded a bit too quickly with no hesitance. "Ok, then Itachi Uchiha, Fugaku Uchiha, Amejisuto Ishi and Sirami Ishi, please sign this form," Tsunade pushed over a paper and pen. Everyone signed it, and the brunette was dismissed to go to her house and pack. The other three stayed behind to talk about other arrangements.

"Uchiha san, as you know, your traditions haven't been used in a long time. Are you sure you want _all _of them used in this?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes, but I appreciate you not telling her the last part Hokage-sama," Fugaku bowed.

"Tousan, what's the last part?" Itachi didn't learn that part in his studies.

"Well, an apprentice from another powerful clan is rare, so the last part is only on certain circumstances which have been met. Only the Hokage and the Uchiha leader know the last part," the Uchiha leader started. "She will be your responsibility indefinitely."

"You mean-"

"Yes. It's about time for you to take a wife anyways," Fugaku interrupted.

"She's only a child, Tousan," the raven argued.

"And you are barely a man. She won't be a child once she turns 18. Besides, it would be a good idea for the two clans to have a merged branch. Do you agree, Sirami-san, Itachi-kun?" The mute woman sighed and nodded, as did the young Uchiha.

"All right, it is agreed: Itachi Uchiha and Amejisuto Ishi will be wed once the girl turns 18. The only person who can tell her is Itachi-kun, since it's his future too, so it's best to keep it to ourselves," Tsunade made everyone agree. As they were walking out of the Hokage building, Itachi turned to his father.

"So how long have you planned to merge with the Ishi clan?"

"A few years. I've discussed it with Hokage-sama and Sirami-san, but now we're taking action. They have large chakra reserves, and that combined with the sharingan gene would make for more powerful descendants. It's a good thing that one of them is willingly taking part in our clan, since it makes things much easier for me. It's also a coincidence that you, she and Sasuke were like the three best finds way back when. You _will_ go through with this. Or do you want to bring shame upon yourself by rejecting a marriage just because you don't actually love her?" Fugaku threatened.

"No, Tousan, I'm fine with it. The problem is how to get her to do it when the time is upon us," Itachi said.

"Simple. We're Uchiha's. We always get what we want."


	4. Chapter 3

**Alright I have decided when to update this! Friday and Monday nights!  
Anyways, new chapter is up so I won't waste your time since let's admit it.. Almost no one reads the author notes xD**

**Itachi: Ameji doesn't own anything except herself **

**Sasuke: And if you forgot she doesn't own much, you have amnesia. We say it all the time**

**Me: ... Ok enjoy ^_^**

* * *

A few hours later in the Ishi district, Amejisuto had finished packing her clothes, books, ninja weapons and scrolls. Just as she sealed the last box, someone knocked on the door of the small apartment and she rushed to open it. It was her blonde cousin, Sora Ishi, who decided to barge in and flop onto the couch. "Please tell me that you aren't doing what the rumors say you are," she looked over at Amejisuto.

"What rumors?" She asked half-heartedly, looking around to make sure she didn't forget anything.

"Jiji, they say you're going to be an apprentice of an Uchiha! Sirami-sama announced it through the wind!" Sora yelled.

"Do you think that a clan leader would spread a lie? I _am _an Uchiha apprentice now. Besides, it's not bad, it's awesome. It's not like I'm getting married, and I'm training with an old friend," Amejisuto explained.

"Either way, you have to spend almost every second with _the _Itachi Uchiha and live as an Uchiha, right?"

"Well yes, but I was really close to him and Sasuke, so it's just like having an extra big family again. It's not like I'm going to randomly fall in love with them."

"Jiji, don't overestimate yourself. No one can resist an Uchiha," Sora crossed her arms. "I bet that you won't last a month without falling hopelessly in love, but I'll be nice and bet a year," she said dramatically.

Amejisuto laughed and stuck out her hand. "I'll last over a year. If you lose, then you will have to challenge Naruto to a fight for Sasuke's love, even though you both pretty much 'hate' him."

"And if _you_ lose like you usually do, you have to _dance _in front of me and the person," Sora challenged, taking the hand and shaking it. Amejisuto scowled. She was a _terrible _dancer.

"Eimi-chan, are you ready to go?" Itachi knocked on the open door. Sora's green eyes almost popped out of her head. She knew of Itachi and his serious fan club, but she never saw him in person, and he was the type who looked god-like by just standing with light shining around him. _'Oh yah, she won't last even a month,'_ she smirked.

"I have to write the formulas for a summoning scroll, but I'm having a bit of trouble. Could you please help? My cousin here is useless at anything that isn't wind or kunai knives," Amejisuto asked.

"Hey! Mean much!" Sora objected.

"Sure, where is it?" Itachi ignored the loud Ishi.

"In my room. Please follow me," she led him though the small apartment with Sora trailing after, wanting to see more of the raven haired male beauty. Amejisuto saw the look in her cousin's eyes. "Please Sora, don't become a fangirl. It will only cause problems."

Sora turned red and stated protesting. "Pfft, I'm not a fangirl, just seeing if the famous Uchihas are really awesome like people say," she denied. Amejisuto didn't buy it and silently laughed at her strange relative. They got to her room and Itachi looked around. Boxes were packed, and there was a large scroll already painted with different jutsu characters for all the types of things she had packed up.

"I just didn't know the exact formula for sending it to your house," the brunette explained. He took the brush next to it and dipped it in ink, setting to work on the last few details. Soon it was ready to go, and Amejisuto activated the jutsu while Itachi and Sora helped move the boxes onto the scroll and watched them disappear. After the last box was transported, they rolled up the scroll and Itachi put it in his weapons pouch.

"We are good to go!" Amejisuto shouted. Itachi gave a kind smile and Sora became saddened.

"I'm gunna miss you around here, Jiji," she hugged her cousin.

"It's not like I'm moving to Suna. I'll just be across the village, and I'll visit," the other Ishi assured her.

"Just don't forget about our bet, and if you ever get married, I wanna at least be a bridesmaid."

_'Well then let's just get your measurements ready to go,'_ Itachi thought.

"Alright, but remember what you have to do when you lose." And with that, Itachi and Amejisuto left to the Uchiha part of the city.

Fugaku had apparently announced his son taking on an Ishi apprentice, and the members of the clan gathered on the streets in the compound to welcome her. They all looked similar with black hair in different styles and most had dark eyes. The only exceptions were the ones who obviously married into the clan, or the elders.

They walked past the bakery that Amejisuto had been eyeing the day before. There were two old people standing outside and Itachi waved at them. They stopped walking to talk to them. "Welcome to the family," the friendly looking Uchihas greeted.

"Hello Obasan, hello Ojisan," Itachi smiled.

"Itachi-kun, we're so proud of you for taking an apprentice. This young woman looks like she's ready to learn anything!" The auntie gushed. Amejisuto immediately took a liking to that old woman.

"It's nice to see you, but I think we should get her settled. We'll see you later," the raven bowed and pushed his student along.

She decided to give a short speech so there wouldn't be any more interruptions, and she was also feeling a bit intimidated by everyone staring. "I'm Amejisuto Ishi, thank you for welcoming me with open arms, especially since this was so sudden," she bowed to everyone before moving on down the streets with Itachi to his home. The gathering of Uchihas smiled warmly. _'I bet they're mainly being nice since Itachi is my sensei now,'_ she thought, knowing the usual coldness to outsiders intruding unless it was for marriages or special circumstances. Or Naruto. Everyone _loved _that hyperactive blonde.

They walked down the roads to Itachi's home where Sasuke ran out and greeted them, with Naruto following behind. "Ame-chan, you never told us you were moving here," he complained.

"I only found out a few hours ago," Amejisuto rubbed the back of her head in nervousness, realising she would have to explain the situation to the other kunoichi too, who would probably do what her cousin did and assume that she was in love with an Uchiha or something. She sighed and just told Naruto the basics.

"Wait, so you're married?!"

"No, dobe, stop reacting like an overprotective brother," Sasuke sighed.

"He acts more like a girl would," Amejisuto giggled. "Itachi sensei, where did we transport my stuff to?"

"Oh, I set up a room for you. Follow me. I also keep forgetting to tell you this, but you don't need to call me sensei when we're not training. Itachi-san is fine," he led her to a room in the huge house, giving a small tour on the way, showing where the dojo, living room, kitchen, meditation room, main bathroom and everyone else's rooms were. She had a room across from Itachi's, Sasuke's room was in another hall, and his parent's room was near the dojo. It was pretty spread out, but she guessed Uchiha's didn't like interacting with each other much.

Amejisuto suddenly wondered why she got a room so close to Itachi when everyone else who was actually family were spread out. "Are you going to go in?" Her mentor's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She nodded and slid open the door, gasping at the room. It was all decorated with white furniture and purple walls and blankets with a plain beige floor. Her boxes were all in a pile in the corner near a bathroom and closet.

"Wow, this is so... Wow!" She exclaimed.

"Yah, we figured we would change your room up a bit more than it was before, since it used to match every other room in the house: All black and blue. I remembered your favorite color was purple. It also matches your eyes. I heard girls like things that match their eyes or something," he was surprised when the brunette turned around and hugged him.

"Thank you so much! It's awesome!" She grinned and then went inside to start unpacking.

"You're welcome, Eimi-chan," the raven mumbled before going into his room. "If you need me, just knock."

Amejisuto sorted out her boxes and put away her belongings, admiring the fancy room. There weren't many houses with the old and modern styles mixed anymore. "There's so much room in here," she gushed as she filled the back of the walk-in closet with weapons and filled the front with different cool outfits for different kinds of missions. She was able to even practise a few flips and cartwheels in the space she had left over in the main part. "I should do something about all this space..."

After she was done unpacking, she heard a knock on her door and turned around. There stood a beautiful middle aged woman with black hair that had a slight tinge of blue, and kind brown eyes. "Hi, I'm Mikoto, Sasuke and Itachi's mother," she waved. "I apologise for not greeting you along with the rest of the clan. I was out shopping."

Amejisuto stood up and bowed. "Thank you for allowing me in your home, even if it _was_ so sudden."

"Oh, it's ok Amejisuto-chan. It will be nice to have another girl in the house. I can tell that we will get along nicely. You can come to me if you need anything," Mikoto bowed and left.

"Hm, sweet woman. I get that Itachi is kind but how did Sasuke turn into... Sasuke? He used to be so nice," She thought out loud.

"You'll find out eventually just by living here," Itachi popped into her room, startling her. "Now, get ready for a weird new life."

* * *

"So you're saying that since she's from another powerful clan, they have to get married?" Konan gasped.

"Itachi Uchiha must be captured before then. If not, we shall have to capture the female too," Pain concluded.

"The question is how we get him to join. It's not like he would _want_ to help give out deadly monsters as weapons to different ninja villages for military power," Konan tried to think of something that would convince him.

"The key do getting what we want is through manipulation," announced Madara.

"Well how? We're all S-ranked criminals, even though not even most of our group knows that the great Madara Uchiha is still alive," the woman pointed out.

"That gives me an idea..." Pain smirked.

"Well, let's hear it," Madara commanded.

"I think that we-"

"SASORI NO DANNA! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DETONATING CLAY, UN?!" A loud yell was heard from the hall. The three leaders poked their heads out of the room. There stood Deidara and Sasori, arguing once again.

"I threw it out. Is there a problem?" A smug reply came from the redhead.

"I was making a sculpture to blow up outside, un!"

"It was all over our room and my puppets. You're lucky I didn't kill you."

Kisame walked into the hall. "What are ya fighting about now?"

"He threw out my clay, un!" Deidara pointed madly at Sasori, who rolled his eyes and started walking back to their room. "Hey! Don't walk away from me, un!"

Konan sighed and closed the door. "I swear we're living in a high school."

"So what was it you were saying about manipulation, Madara?" Pain got back into the conversation.

The Uchiha smirked under his mask. Ah yes, manipulation, like what he was doing ever since he got to the Akatsuki.


	5. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! I will skip all the blah-blah-blah this time ^_^  
Oh and thanks B.A. Serenity for reminding me of the line thing. It would've been terrible if I wrote the whole story without it**

**Itachi: Everyone goes to their respective owners**

**Sasuke: No one owns me!**

**Naruto: *Puts leash on Sasuke* I own you so HAH.**

* * *

The next day, Itachi and Amejisuto sat in the middle of a clearing in a forest near the Uchiha complex. They were doing that 'information sharing' thing that most students and sensei's do before they work together, though they personally felt it unnecessary.

"As you know, I'm Amejisuto Ishi from the clan of the nature masters. I am 16 years old, and will be 17 next month." Itachi stiffened at that. _'How could I forget? Only a year before she's tied down forever...'_ "I like drawing, writing and fighting for what I believe in, and I don't like being underestimated or feeling weak," she continued.

"What's your goal for the future?" Asked the older man.

"My goal is to become a famous and respected kunoichi. Now, what about you, Itachi-san?"

"I'm Itachi Uchiha of the sharingan. I'm 22 years old. I like training, rice balls and my precious people. I don't like war, arrogance or my father, but please don't tell him I said that," he looked at the brunette who smiled and did a lock sign over her lips. "My goal is to protect the village all my life and to keep my future wife and kids happy."

"Nice goals," Amejisuto gave thumbs up. "Now are we going to start training today?"

"The Uchiha techniques are complex and take most people years to master. First, we should spar so I can know your main level and jutsu, and then we should take a few missions together," Itachi said, with the Ishi listening intently and nodding. They got into their sparring gear and did some warm ups so their muscles wouldn't be too tense.

The sparring match was ready to begin. "The first match will be taijutsu only," Itachi confirmed. Amejisuto nodded and rushed at him with immense speed. She tried to distract him by aiming a fake punch to his face while she was intending to trip him, but he leaped in the air and flipped over her, kicking his foot across where her feet were moments ago. She followed his technique and leaped over him, twisting her body to avoid a punch to the stomach, kicking his back and landing crouched so his kick could swipe over her. He punched as she tried to get to the other side of him, and it made impact.

She jumped out of the way of another punch and tried to trip him again, and he blocked her foot with his own before skillfully lifting her slightly by the foot and twisting her so she landed on the ground with a loud thud. She growled, spun and bent backward like she had no spine, effectively landing a kick his shoulder.

Their movements soon became too quick to see, each landing a few blows (Amejisuto ended up being hurt more than her sensei, of course), and after a few minutes, Itachi caught both fists trying to punch him, twisting her so her back was pressed to him and her arms were twisted. She tried kicking but he locked her legs with one of his own. "We're done for now in taijutsu. You need to improve greatly on that, but I applaud you on managing to do some damage to me. We'll take a small break and then practice ninjutsu. My mother will be here soon," he predicted as Mikoto reached the training area.

"Hey there guys, are you thirsty? I brought iced green tea," she offered a small tray of drinks before sitting with them. They all sat there, sipping tea and enjoying the company. When they were done, Mikoto wished them good luck and left with the empty glasses.

"Time for ninjutsu training," Itachi stood up and stretched. "Show me all the jutsu you know, or at least the most powerful and rare ones first."

"Ok, first is my most powerful wind style: sound of destruction." She took a deep breath and whistled low and strong. The Uchiha activated his sharingan, making his eyes go red, and saw the chakra from her breath manipulating the wind and destroying her target: a pile of leaves. She was out of breath after a minute of keeping a steady note until the leaves were in pieces. "That one is rarely used, since it takes up too much time and chakra in a fight.

"The second is the wind shuriken that Naruto taught me. I adjusted it so it wouldn't break my chakra points and was slightly less powerful," she held out her hand and focused, letting her chakra seep out, creating a ball of swirling energy that soon mixed with the wind. She threw it at a thick tree stump, cutting it in half.

She displayed different jutsu's, even the ones she hadn't mastered completely. Her other best ones were water style: water dragon, shadow and water clones, and water style: water prison. After doing a few of those, she was pretty much out of chakra.

"Amejisuto, are you a genjutsu type user?" Itachi asked as she was fighting to regain her breath. She shook her head and fell on the ground; her last batch of clones drained her, and it wasn't like she had the Kyuubi to add extra chakra like Naruto could. "For now, we will only train once every two days. Otherwise, you won't be able to store up enough chakra without it being gone right away."

"What will we do in the meantime?" Amejisuto asked.

"Bond, go on missions every once in a while. You can also follow my mother around on your days off. Since you will be here for a while, it would be best to stay on my parents' good side by helping out around the house," he suggested.

"Ok. I haven't used this much chakra before so I think I'm gunna pass out," the Ishi wheezed before coughing and then falling asleep from chakra deprivation.

"She'll have to get used to using more chakra than normal," the Uchiha sighed before picking his student up and carrying her back to the house.

Mikoto gasped at the sight of the sleeping girl. "Is she alright?"

"Used up too much chakra, but she'll be fine tomorrow. I'll take her to her room." He started to walk towards their rooms.

"Itachi-kun, your father told me about the arranged marriage. I hope it won't be too hard on you guys when the time comes," she mentioned.

"It's alright, I'm sure it's all for the best. Now if you'll excuse me," he walked to his apprentice's room and took off all the armor, leaving her in better suited sleepwear. He put her in her bed and pulled blankets over her before leaving and closing the door behind him.

* * *

The whole Akatsuki were gathered in a large room. "So what's happening now," sighed Hidan.

"We will start the tailed beast hunt in six weeks, since the demon statue is almost ready. We have decided to get Itachi Uchiha and possibly his young apprentice eventually, but time is running out. The nine tailed fox is the most powerful, and its container is also growing stronger each day. Any questions?" Pain announced.

"Why don't we just capture the nine-tails first?" Asked Orochimaru.

"The order has to go from one to nine, or else it won't work and the creatures will run loose," Konan explained.

"When will we get Itachi?" Kisame asked.

"We're planning on manipulation and hopefully we will give Itachi a reason to leave and join us."

"Tobi wants to know if he can capture the first demon!" Madara was back in his 'idiot' character, fooling almost everyone.

"No. The first demon will be captured by Deidara and Sasori," Pain turned to the two mentioned. "You will find it in the current Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara."

Zetsu was sent to spy on Itachi and Amejisuto while the rest of the Akatsuki discussed different ways to find and capture the tailed beast containers. Madara slipped away too, but nobody cared. He went to his room and started scheming on how to manipulate the Uchiha clan and end up with Itachi in the end. "I'll use the girl too. I bet Orochimaru would _love _to experiment on an Ishi," he thought. "And Itachi is a very persuasive man when the right buttons are pushed. This could be so easy..."


	6. Chapter 5

**Hi ^_^**

**Enjoy~**

**Sasuke: That was brief**

**Itachi: Shut up, otouto, she's working hard. Anyways, she owns her, Kishimoto owns everyone else..**

**Sakura: *sigh* do we even need the disclaimers at this point?**

* * *

A month filled with hard work, team building exercises and easy missions later, Amejisuto woke up to find Mikoto leaning over her bed, staring at her. She held back the urge to scream at how creepy it was and sat up with a polite smile. "Good morning, Mikoto-san, what brings you to my room?"

"Happy birthday, Eimi-chan! Time to get you all dressed up! I'm going to teach you the Uchiha birthday traditions," the older woman seemed a bit over-happy...

"Alright, but can I just take my usual shower first?" Amejisuto yawned.

"Nope, we're going to the spa and we can bathe there. That's one of the traditions, well, it's that the daughter and mother or father and son go to a relaxing place," Mikoto said cheerfully, pulling back the silky purple blankets and pretty much dragging the young girl out of her bed, quickly shoving her into a kimono.

Thankfully, her hair was fine and didn't need brushing. Amejisuto felt slightly winded as Mikoto dragged her through the large house to the kitchen to bid the stunned males, who were in the middle of eating, goodbye. Amejisuto glared at the sons who started snickering. Well, mainly Sasuke was doing the silent taunting. Itachi chuckled but also gave her a look of sympathy. He knew he couldn't do anything to help when his mother was excited like this.

Mikoto and her 'victim' arrived at the spa/bath house and were welcomed in instantly. Once they were showered and in the bath, things were finally explained. "I never go to do these things since I married into the Uchiha clan, and as you know, I only have sons," the mother explained. "You are the closest thing to a daughter to me right now, so I decided that we should do this for your birthday."

Amejisuto was slightly dazed and still half asleep since she was confused from being pulled around for the past twenty minutes of being awake, but she was also flattered that she was considered a daughter (though it brought up weird thoughts about who the woman mentally married her to). "Are there any other birthday traditions I should know about?"

"Well, it's the usual 'receive gifts' but there's a special thing that Uchihas and their apprentices have to do on the girl's birthday, since it's more special in this clan than a man's. I don't know all the details, but I think you have to go on a special mission for a week," she said.

"That sounds fun. More bonding time with my favorite teacher," Amejisuto smiled.

Mikoto grinned. _'And hopefully soon your favorite person,'_ she thought. "Any Ishi clan traditions that we should be aware of?"

"Well, we usually spend the day in relaxation with people we're close to while appreciating nature, so it's a good start so far for the most part."

They both grew quiet and enjoyed the soak before a lady went by and brought them to the set up spa room for different treatments. It was a girl's day out paradise filled with mud baths, wraps, massages and other relaxing things. Amejisuto wasn't the biggest fan of girly things, but she found herself enjoying how refreshed she felt once it was done. Her favorite part was the massages, of course.

A few hours passed and the girls were walking back to their home, laughing at stories that Mikoto told about Sasuke and Itachi when they were younger. Embarrassing stories. "Seriously? He _cut _those lines on his face with a _kunai_? And I'm supposed to think he's a flawless sensei," the brunette laughed after the older woman told a story about her oldest son.

"Well, he was only 3 and wanted to look like a warrior," Mikoto giggled. They got back in the house and the Uchihas, Team 7, Team Guy, Sora and Sirami were all waiting in the dojo to surprise her. Well, Fugaku just said hi, took his wife, and walked away.

"Happy beginning of the last year of true youth, though you will always have youth on your side, just a different kind of youthfulness!" Rock Lee and Guy sensei started crying randomly and were ushered into a corner by their teammates, Neji and Tenten, so they could cry out their weirdness.

"Happy birthday, Eimi-chan," Itachi smiled. Everyone joined in, giving hugs and good wishes. Then came the presents. She got a Hollywood Undead CD from Sakura, a ramen coupon from Naruto, a cool kunai knife with an Uchiha crest on it from Sasuke, the original 3 Icha Icha books from Kakashi and a weird green leotard from Lee and Guy. Tenten got her a metal fan for wind users, and Neji got a scroll for techniques to use against genjutsu.

Sora smirked and gave her a small book filled with 'get out of bet free as long as you admit I'm right' coupons, and Sirami gave a scroll of high level techniques of the elite members of the Ishi clan, and everyone knew they probably couldn't ever beat her after she learned them. Lee and guy were still in their own little world.

"And what about Aniki? The great sensei hasn't forgotten a gift for his favorite pupil, has he?" Sasuke teased.

"I'm going to give it to her at the end of the traditional mission," the older raven replied.

The birthday girl inched close to her cousin. "Hey Sora, it's been a month and I haven't felt anything towards any Uchiha yet," she bragged.

"Have you ever even liked anyone before?" Sora asked.

"Psh, yah. I liked Kiba-kun when I was 8," Amejisuto crossed her arms in triumph.

"That... Is... Pathetic..." Sora laughed. "You probably don't even know what it feels like.

"Oh shut up."

"Hey Ame-chan! Are you going to celebrate with birthday ramen?" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto-kun, I think she has to prepare for her mission, so we're leaving. It was a nice party though," Sakura dragged her teammate out by the ear. Kakashi waved and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The other guests soon left too, leaving the Uchiha family and Amejisuto.

"Itachi, Amejisuto-chan, we got a mission for you from Tsunade-sama," Fugaku entered the dojo. "It's a traditional week-long mission, and it's A ranked."

"What will we be doing?" Asked Itachi.

"You will be undercover as a young couple in Sunagakure. Apparently Kazekage-sama requested assistance from someone in Konoha to track down an S ranked criminal and bring him to Suna. He should be near the border at the town Airin, which is famous for its resorts," he assigned.

"If he's an S rank criminal why is it an A ranked mission?" Amejisuto pointed out.

"There's two of you, and you have a week. Just take him back here for the intelligence division."

"Hai, Tousan," Itachi bowed and Amejisuto followed his lead. They left to pack lightly and set out later that day.

Once they were out of sight, Mikoto started panicking. "What if this mission doesn't bring them closer together?"

"Hokage-sama has assured me that this mission is perfect for that. The man they're tracking down always uses a certain jutsu to make things more... Interesting," Fugaku assured.

* * *

Deidara and Sasori started to pack for their mission to Suna. It was still another week until they left, but Sasori would complain if they wasted any time when they needed to leave. He wasn't exactly the most patient person, and Deidara didn't feel like being stabbed with a poisoned needle, being left in pain until he'd be almost dead after three days, then stabbed harshly with an antidote. He shuddered at the thought.

"So which one of us fights the great 18 year old Kazekage, un," the blonde asked as he shoved globs of detonating clay into small pouches.

"You will. My puppets will be crushed if I fight him," Sasori sighed. "You better make it quick though. I hate waiting."

"Yah yah, I know, you only mention that six billion times a week, un. I bet you don't want to fight him because he's the leader of the village you ran away from and you're scared to face your past, un."

The redhead growled and pulled out a poison-tipped kunai, smirking at the fear in his partner's eyes. "Sorry, I missed that. What were you saying?"

"Um... That I'll take care of the one tails and you should set up traps, un?"

"That's what I thought."

"I'll make the fight quick. Sand is no match for my beautiful art! Un."

"Whatever, just get it done before I get impatient."

Deidara pouted at his partner's coldness. "You're so demanding, Sasori no Danna, un."

Sasori rolled his eyes. "I wasn't made to have any other emotions. How I even get into pointless fights with you is a mystery; I made myself to specific details that I wanted but somehow you over-ran my programming."

"You make it sound like you're a robot or a computer, un. Puppets don't get programmed."


	7. Chapter 6

**Aah a day late! I'm so sorry... I forgot it was Friday yesterday :p **

**If there are any mistakes or confusing things, please tell me**

**Itachi: Kishimoto owns-**

**Sasuke: Shut up and let them read.**

* * *

"How long until we reach Airin?"

"I think it's only another ten minutes."

The Uchiha apprentice and her sensei were jumping from branch to branch at full speed, ready to find and capture the criminal they were sent after for their special mission, though it just seemed like a normal mission instead of something special. Itachi already figured out what the mission was for, and was prepared for anything. He wasn't quite sure what kind of situation or jutsu the criminal could put them in to make something possibly happen, but he knew that his father wouldn't allow something like this to fail or someone getting hurt too badly. It was bad for the Uchiha reputation, after all. As far as he could tell, his student was pretty much clueless and thought that it was just another tradition and bonding mission in one blow.

_'Amejisuto, please, just keep being oblivious and happy for now,'_ he prayed.

A few minutes later, they dropped into the town, landing gracefully and walking like it was an everyday thing while the town citizens stared in amazement. They obviously didn't get many ninja visitors. Once the duo got to the resort, they found that someone had already booked a reservation for them. _'Hokage-sama or Mikoto-san probably. They're so nice,'_ Amejisuto smiled. She found the resorts and average-sized town charming compared to the large ninja village she was used to.

They got to their room and opened summoning scrolls, collecting clothes for the week that were stored in that place that most summoning things come from (and nobody knows the name of). "Ita-kun, why did they give us a week when we could just capture the criminal in a day?"

"It's traditional for it to be a week, and they probably want us to bond a bit more in an uncomfortable situation so we can learn to fully trust each other.. Or something like that at least," the raven replied.

"How is this an uncomfortable situation? It's another mission along with a chance to bond while relaxing, even though I already trust you with my life," the brunette smiled.

"Well that's good. Forgive me when I say that I barely trust anyone with my life, not even myself," he joked.

"I guess we'll just have to work on that sometime. For now, let's go to the hot springs!"

Itachi looked at a clear door on the other side of the room. "I guess we have private baths at this resort," he mumbled.

"Then how will we find the criminal if we don't even go to the same onsen?"

"I've been told the criminal is male, so you wouldn't be able to find him on your own anyways since public baths are separated, which brings the question of how we _will_ find him."

"Ooh! We can walk around town and look for him! They said we we're posing as a couple, right? Nothing will be suspicious if we go around on 'dates'," Amejisuto suggested.

"Good idea, we should take a bath first though," Itachi complimented.

"Who first, though?"

"Why not both at once? The sooner we're out, the sooner we can look and finish this mission," Itachi shrugged.

The 17 year old turned red with embarrassment. "WHAT?! We can't share a bath, we're different- Hey! What are you doing?" She yelled as Itachi started taking off his armor and clothes.

"In ANBU, it makes no difference. Put emotions aside and do it for the mission," he stated, chuckling when the girl squeaked and turned around. He put a towel around his waist and walked outside. "If you're uncomfortable with me seeing anything, I suggest you go in first."

Amejisuto sighed and quickly stripped down, running outside and into the hot water with her eyes closed and face red. Itachi went in next on the opposite side of the hot spring. "I think this is also what people consider 'bonding and building trust' under these circumstances," the raven said.

"This is inappropriate and humiliating. I don't know how you ANBU do it," the Ishi mumbled.

"Like I said, put your emotions aside for the mission. That's one of the most important shinobi rules."

"Naruto-kun breaks that rule all the time then. He get's way too emotional," she laughed.

They sat in the hot water awkwardly until they felt that they were clean enough to go out. Itachi ended up getting hit by a thrown rock when he forgot to close his eyes when they left the spring, even though he wasn't even looking. Not that he cared or anything.

They went out and went in different shops and tourist attractions, looking for the criminal, and being unaware that the criminal already found out they were hunting him. They ended up going to a restaurant when they got hungry, amused by the fact that their most popular dish was ramen.

They took a few bites of their snacks - dango and rice balls- before they noticed something weird was happening to Amejisuto. She started gasping for air and mumbling about something being an accident before she passed out. Itachi looked at her with his sharingan and realised she was in a deep genjutsu that even _he_ would have trouble breaking. He quickly paid for the snacks and ran back to the resort they were staying at, laying her on her bed. "Damn, the criminal must've done this," he cursed.

He noticed his apprentice started to whimper and shake, and reached down to try to soothe her a bit by shooting some of his chakra into her to help her block out some of the genjutsu world she was in, but he found himself being pulled into her mind once he merged with her chakra, falling for the genjutsu that he knew he probably wouldn't escape.

He knew the type of person who would do something like that, and he knew that there was a chance of getting out. It was going to be like a videogame; going through all stages or levels until you finally win. He just wondered what kind of levels there would be in his student's mind, and what he would uncover. Hadn't she mumbled something about an accident?

His body in the genjutsu was normal, thankfully. Itachi looked around, seeing a normal looking world. In fact, it looked like the Ishi clan compound, near Amejisuto's old home. "Look out!" Someone cried, before pummeling into him, throwing them across the street. He looked where he was previously standing and saw a wolf with an evil aura running trough that spot, looking like he was ready to tear up anyone that crossed his path. "Itachi-kun?" He looked up at the person who tackled him to the side. It was his student. "Ita-kun, what happened? And why are you here too?"

"You got caught in a genjutsu and I got pulled in," he sighed. "As I've told you, with a high leveled genjutsu, like this is, you need a person on the outside to either give you chakra to regulate your flow of energy or defeat the enemy, or you have to block out all senses, which you haven't learned to do yet."

"Then how do we get out of here?"

"I think we have to go through until the caster ends it or it runs its course. Have you collected any information?"

Amejisuto visibly shivered. "This is just like the incident twelve years ago. If I'm correct, I think it's going through my memories. This is the worst one though," she said sadly.

"Why is that?"

"Come with me," the brunette sighed, grabbed his hand and followed the wolf. They got to a small temple where a little girl and an older man were cornered by the wild wolf. It lunged for the small girl but the man jumped in front of her, letting out a small whistle, but it was cut off as he cried out when the wolf sank his teeth into his leg. The man fell on his knees and the wolf scratched him up and bit down on his neck, killing him instantly while the girl behind him screamed. Itachi looked away and saw tears running down his student's face.

"Daddy!" The small girl cried, as his dead body fell to the ground. The wolf looked at her and prepared to pounce, but a blast of wind threw him away and down the road. The clan leader, Sirami, appeared. She was furious at the intruding animal and looked over at the small girl who was still crying over the man.

"Why did you kill him, you dirty mutt?" She yelled, performing hand signs and making a stick of lightning appear in her hand. She threw it at the wolf, who dodged it easily and growled before running down the road and pouncing on her, His paw got pushed on her throat, making her unable to talk anymore. Sirami wrestled with the dog, getting bitten and scratched but managing to stay alive.

There was a loud scream from the little girl and the wolf turned its head to her, getting distracted and focusing on attacking again. The blonde woman threw a punch after lining her fist with chakra, slamming it into the wolf's head and killing it. She then hobbled over to the little girl, wrapping her in a hug and turning her away from the man.

"Mommy, why... Why d-did that doggie attack us?" The girl sobbed. Sirami tried to talk, but no sound would come out, making her cry more that she couldn't comfort her daughter. 'Amejisuto,' she mouthed.

"It's all my fault," the seventeen year old Amejisuto whispered. "I begged him to take me to the temple because I was finally old enough to go pay my respects to the dead, and the wolf came out of nowhere..." she started to sob, hiding her face in her hands. "I shouldn't have begged him so much. He didn't want to take me yet, but he just couldn't say no after a while, and we got attacked."

Itachi tried to imagine what it would be like if his father or brother was killed by a wild animal that should be so easy to take down, and how bad he would feel if he was the reason they died or his mother stopped being able to talk. There would be only guilt, darkness and depression for him... How did he not know what happened? He and Sasuke were always around her since she was six or so.

He grabbed his student and wrapped his arms around her, letting her cry on his shoulder. "The worst part was that I was the one who snuck the wolf out of the Inuzuka dog clinic the day before," she cried.

"I'm sorry this happened, but it's in the distant past. You got over it once, so you can do it again," Itachi tried to cheer her up. Amejisuto stepped back and wiped the tears off of her face and sniffing a bit.

"I guess I'm just selfish, since there are people that get their whole clans killed and have to act like nothing happened," she sighed.

There was a loud _crack _and the scenery changed. It turned into a dark forest in the middle of a thunderstorm. Oddly enough, the two didn't get wet. They saw three ANBU crouching on the muddy forest floor. One of them was holding a man covered in blood. The brunette saw her mentor's eyes widen. "No," he murmured.

"Itachi-sama, we have to give up! He's dead and nothing can revive him!" One of the taller people yelled over the thunder.

"No! He isn't dead and I sent a message to the hospital. A medic-nin will be here soon!" The shortest one in an ANBU captain uniform yelled back.

"Sir, if we don't get out of here, we will all die too!" The other man shouted.

"So be it! If he dies, so will I. He's our comrade! You can run if you want but I'm not leaving!"

The man twitched slightly. There was a small silence in the storm as he whispered 'let me go, warn the village.' The younger Itachi took off his ANBU mask and Amejisuto saw that he was her age at the time.

"I'm not going to let you die," he whispered on the brink of tears.

"Captain, we have to go before he gets us too," one of them men said.

"I don't care! Let Orochimaru kill me and take my sharingan. It's my fault anyways!" Itachi shouted.

"You idiot. I'm... Going to die... You must survive for me," the man gasped in pain and then lay still. Itachi picked him up and they all stood.

"It's over, captain. Shisui-san is gone. You know the rules: no evidence. We have to destroy him now."

"I refuse," Itachi growled.

"Then we'll do it."

"No, not you, but I guess the fate of the village rests in his disposal. At least let me mourn."

"We can't, sir. It's now or never," the other ANBU pushed.

Itachi held back his emotions and turned into a cold shell of a person. He laid the man on the ground and everyone took a few steps back. "Fire style: Dragon fire jutsu!" He yelled, shooting a stream of fire out of his mouth. It grew bigger and disintegrated the man. The ANBU turned around, put on their masks, and went on their way back to the village, bringing the storm with them.

Once they were gone, the older Itachi stood over the ashes of his old comrade. "I hate war. I hate evil. Death though... Well he was the only team member that I couldn't save and it almost broke me," he whispered.

"Who was he?" Asked Amejisuto.

"He was my cousin, Shisui Uchiha. We were close and she was on my team for about four years," Itachi explained. "Once he died, I was devastated, but gained my mangekyo sharingan. It forms when an Uchiha's close friend dies in front of them."

The brunette put her hand on his shoulder. "So we've both lost precious people."

"And whoever put this jutsu on us is a sick bastard," he spat, losing his kind and calm composure.

The world dissolved around them and they were back in reality. "I'm glad you think so," a man stood smirking in the back doorway. He had short brown hair, wore sunglasses, and was one of those people who looked like they thought they were _sooo _cool.

"Are you the S-ranked criminal we were sent after?" Amejisuto asked.

"Duh! No one else around here except for us three have strong enough abilities to do these types of things," the man bragged. "But, I'm retired. I don't even want to be a criminal anymore. I just like trapping people in genjutsu and making them go insane in their own minds."

"You sadistic jerk," Itachi glared.

"Ah yes, you have seen the true me," the man bragged.

"So if you don't want to be a criminal anymore, how about coming with us back to Konoha?" Amejisuto growled.

"Lovely offer, pretty lady, but I would also rather not be in jail. Sayonara," he tried to make a run for it but was stopped by the quick Uchiha, who blocked the doors. The man turned around to face the Ishi, who gave him a good punch to the face. Itachi took out a kunai and held it to the man's neck while the girl gave a short low whistle. The man cried out in pain and fell on the ground, curling into a ball and covering his ears.

"I broke his eardrums. It's the easiest part of the human body to break with my jutsu, and perfectly sadistic enough for payback for making us relive awful memories," the brunette bragged.

"I'm not one to agree with revenge, but at least you didn't kill him. Are you feeling better now?" The raven asked.

"Are you?" She replied while tying up the man.

"I'm fine now."

"Well then so am I."

They found out that they had been in that short genjutsu for three days, making them cut the week-long mission short, since they could just return three days early. An ANBU squad took their new prisoner back to Konoha, and the duo soon left to the Uchiha estate. "Well that was an uneventful mission when it really comes down to it. The hardest part was just our memories," the Ishi sighed, walking down the halls with her mentor.

"The fight was short. Either way, it was a decent four day mission, compared to other ones I've been on." Itachi agreed. They got to their rooms and opened their doors, ready to go their separate ways for now. "Goodnight, Eimi-chan."

Amejisuto blushed before scurrying into her room. "Goodnight, _Itachi._"

Itachi paused and smirked. "It's a dangerous game you're starting, Ishi," he said before closing his door.

* * *

Two ninja walked quickly through the desert. They were silent; all things they needed to discuss have been talked about, planned, and ready to go. The redhead of the group was sealed inside a creepy puppet with a metal scorpion-like tail and many weapon pockets. The blonde was mixing up a bunch of clay in his pouches, letting the mouths on his hands eat some in preparation of the small invasion on the village that was just barely on the horizon.

They looked at each other and nodded, speeding up and putting Japanese straw hats on. Not to conceal identities, just because the leader thought it would be cool, which was nonsense but they did it anyways. The yellow/brown sand swirled around them slightly, as if afraid. There was complete silence. Not even the wind dared to blow across them until they reached the city.

The guards at the gates were ready to attack, having been put on lookout for the Akatsuki, since they got word from the great sannin Jiraiya that they were now on the move. "Oh great, general-sama is here!" One of them cheered. Another guard turned to the general who looked like a dead zombie.

"General-san, we have to warn Kazekage-sama!" Another warned.

The general moved forward swiftly with a kunai. His eyes were glazed over and the many guards cried out in fear as he killed them efficiently. The Akatsuki partners glided through the gates easily without anyone trying to stop them. "Sasori no Danna, your spy puppets are really useful," Deidara smirked, looking over the dead general who was already a puppet. He had officially died just minutes before attacking everyone, but had been unaware of being under the puppet master's jutsu for a few years.

"Go in now, and don't keep me waiting," Sasori growled before looking at his newest addition to his collection.

The blonde smirked and went through the long alley to the village, setting off explosives when he got in successfully, trying to get the Kazekage's attention. He was only slightly surprised when a teenager with red hair and black surrounding his eyes appeared, riding on a cloud of sand. The blonde himself was twenty, after all.

"This is going to be fun, un," he smirked before throwing the first bomb and starting the fight.


	8. Chapter 7

**Hi people! I almost forgot to update again :p**

**Itachi: Should I even bother to do it today?**

**Sakura: *sigh***

**Me: Enjoy ^_^**

* * *

"Good morning, Eimi-chan," Mikoto greeted as the brunette walked into the kitchen. She was still only half awake as she trudged to the short table and sat on the cushioned spot on the floor. "How was your mission?"

Amejisuto fell back and laid on the floor, ready to sleep again. "It was exhausting. Once your adrenaline is gone, the after-effects of genjutsu is so tiring."

"Has Itachi never used genjutsu on you before?" Mikoto started preparing breakfast before the boys got up.

"No, he never uses anything but the occasional ninjutsu on me," the Ishi yawned.

"That's unusual," the mother said. "He uses it on Sasuke to let him build resistance, so why not on you? You're his student and he should be helping you in that area as well."

"I guess Itachi has his own methods. He'll probably start soon. I've only been here for a month, Mikoto-san."

The older woman smiled. "Yes, it's been a month and you're already calling my son Itachi." Amejisuto blushed and opened her mouth to explain but was interrupted by yawning Uchiha boys.

"Ohayo, Okasan," Itachi sat next to his apprentice and Sasuke just nodded to his mother before sitting next to his brother.

"Still not good with mornings, huh Sasuke-kun," the 17 year old giggled, getting a half-assed glare. She sat up when Fugaku came in the room.

"Ohayo, Fugaku-san," she greeted. He nodded and sat across the table. Mikoto put food on every ones plates and brought them over. Another tasty breakfast of rice, salmon and eggs.

"Itadakimasu," they all said before digging in.

"So Aniki, did you give Eimi-chan her birthday gift yet?" Sasuke asked.

"Yah. Sensei, where's my present?" She joked.

"Itachi, you didn't forget to get a gift for your lovely apprentice, did you?" Mikoto joined in the teasing.

The victim sighed and smiled. It had gotten happier in the Uchiha's home ever since Amejisuto moved in. It wasn't so tense and Fugaku wasn't so hard on them anymore. Yes, he had gotten her a gift but he was planning on giving it to her in private. "I'll give it to her later. Okasan, do you need any shopping done or anything like that?"

"I need to get groceries later. Why?" His mother answered.

"I bet that Eimi-chan is still feeling the effects of the genjutsu. I'm surprised she's even awake right now," he looked over at the brunette who was staring off into space.

"Huh?" She snapped out of her small daydream.

"So I think we should do the shopping for an off-day," he continued. Mikoto nodded and gave him a grocery list, and they finished their meals.

* * *

It was a slow Friday. The streets weren't too crowded due to it being the morning, leaving Amejisuto more comfortable with the peacefulness. Not that Konoha wasn't generally peaceful; she just didn't like loud noises of many people talking.

"So where should we go first," Itachi looked at the list. "How about to the fruit stands?"

"I always love the smell of fresh fruit, even though it makes me so hungry," Amejisuto walked with her mentor down the roads to the main shopping street. It seemed like there was a food stand for everything. They started shopping at a leisurely pace, relaxing and joking around on their day off.

"No, he's _mine_, forehead," a smug voice rang down the street.

"Pig! I already told you he's _mine!_" Another replied. Sakura and Ino Yamanaka appeared, arguing. Probably over a boy. They were in each other's faces, screaming profanities and mean names, like they did when they were enemies. Amejisuto and Itachi stood still, trying to ignore them, until a few stands of pink hair got pulled, resulting in the puller to be punched across the street.

"Hey, what's going on?" Asked the Ishi, running up and tying to stop a potential disaster.

"Ino-pig thinks that Sai-kun likes her since he calls her miss beautiful all the time," Sakura growled. Itachi pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. They caused a ruckus because of a pretty-much-emotionless boy's nicknames?

"And he calls billboard brow 'ugly hag', so he obviously likes me!" Ino argued.

"You guys do know that Sai calls people the opposite of what he thinks of them, right?" Itachi said. The girls thought for a moment.

"WAIT! So he thinks I'm ugly?" Ino cried.

"And he thinks I'm pretty," Sakura bragged.

"Whatever he thinks, I can't believe you're fighting about another boy. The Sasuke-kun incident broke you two apart for years," Amejisuto sighed when they didn't listen, trapped in their own worlds of celebration and depression. She turned to Itachi. "Ino-chan will get over it and find another guy, so let's just go.."

The rest of the shopping trip went smoothly, and Itachi was becoming more nervous by the second, though he didn't show it, of course. He decided that he would give his gift once they got back home, and hoped that she would like it. "Itachi, how did you know Sai-kun called people the opposite of what he sees them as?" She asked as they finished paying for the last thing Mikoto wrote down and started to head back.

"He called me a talentless shinobi once when we were on an ANBU mission and I defeated a whole group of S-ranked criminals with a fire phoenix jutsu," Itachi smirked. "He was obviously impressed."

"I found out by reading one of the books he borrowed from the library. It was pretty stupid, but explained a lot about why he does weird things," Amejisuto said.

They discussed random things about what books are wrong about and time flew by. They barely noticed that they walked into the Uchiha part of the village until they were greeted by Mikoto. They brought the groceries into the kitchen and Amejisuto sighed happily, stretching her limbs now that they were free from heavy produce.

Itachi shuffled around nervously. "Eimi-chan, would you please wait in your room," he requested. She gave him a questioning look, then shrugged and walked off. "So do you think she'll like it?" He asked his mother.

"You should know, you're with her most of the time," Mikoto started putting the groceries away.

"But you're a girl. Girl's know everything about other girls, right?"

The woman laughed. "If girls knew everything about other girls, the world would be destroyed by hatred. Just remember, she isn't stupid and she will find out eventually."

Itachi walked slowly down the halls, slowly preparing to be either loved or hated, and building up resistance to pain. He got to his room and concentrated for a moment before making a hand signal. "Release," he said, and the genjutsu room faded away. The real room looked pretty much the same except with a few extra things in the corners. Secret scrolls, ANBU mission reports, and the gift.

He picked up the wrapped box and recast the genjutsu. Slowly and nervously, he walked to his student's door and knocked. She answered it with a smile and invited him in. "Eimi-chan-"

"You have earned the privilege to just call me Eimi," she smiled.

"Right. Eimi, here's your late birthday gift," he handed over the box.

She stared at it for a while, admiring the silver and purple ribbons, laughing to herself that Itachi must've wrapped it himself, before she opened it. She gasped and pulled out a beautiful kimono. It was 'TARDIS' blue with little silver patterns and flowers with a light silver obi. On the back was the Uchiha crest: a red and white fan. She also pulled out a gold comb, a pair of silver shoes, and the most amazing necklace she had ever seen. It was almost a choker necklace that had a chain made out of real silver, and the pendant was a flat silver circle with the Uchiha fan on one side and the Ishi star on the other.

"It's all so beautiful," she whispered. She looked at her sensei, who was smiling softly. "I wanna try it on," she announced.

"I will be outside your room," Itachi nodded, leaving and closing the door behind him.

"Stalker," he heard her laugh. A few minutes later, he was called back into her room. His eyes widened once she was in sight. She looked breathtaking. The kimono and shoes fit her perfectly, like they were made specifically for her. Well, they were, but that was beside the point. "I'm having a bit of trouble doing up the necklace. Can you please help?"

Itachi nodded and she held out the necklace before turning around and lifting her hair. He wrapped it around her neck and connected the two edges. Amejisuto turned around and smiled. "The comb is really pretty too. It's sad that I can't wear it with this," she giggled.

"It was my grandmother's, but even with long hair, I can't really use it. I think her intentions were to give it to a girl," he said lightly.

"Thank you so much! I want to show Mikoto-san," she pulled him by the arm to the kitchen where the Uchiha woman was cutting up vegetables for dinner. She cleared her throat and Mikoto's eyes pooled with tears at the sight of the kunoichi.

"It looks amazing," she gushed.

"Itachi has good taste," Amejisuto grinned. "It's too fancy to wear all the time, so I'll only wear it on special occasions."

"And maybe on your wedding day," the older woman smiled.

"Oh yah! Speaking of weddings," she turned to Itachi. "If I'm considered an Uchiha, do I have to marry another Uchiha or do I marry into another clan or does someone marry into this clan?" She was confused as she saw her mentor become visibly uncomfortable.

"Um... I'm pretty sure you have to marry an Uchiha," he said, looking away. The Ishi decided to try something to find out what his problem was. The whole time she was living there, she could sense that there was a huge secret being hidden from her. She had only been there for a month, but it already felt like she was part of the family and wanted to know what everyone else knew. Well, except Sasuke.

"I'm going to change back now," she announced before leaving the Uchihas. She walked out of sight, concealed her chakra slightly, and listened from around the corner.

"Okasan, she still has almost a full year before her next birthday. I can tell you want to inform her of the situation, but we should let her have as much freedom as we can give her. She shouldn't need to worry about that stuff," she heard Itachi say.

"Yes, but we can't let her be too free. It will hurt her too much if she ends up with someone else but finds out she has to carry out the traditions."

Amejisuto was confused again. _'I highly doubt they're talking about training right now,'_ she thought.

"I don't think that will happen. She started calling me Itachi, and I know about all her friends. She listed them all off once and all had 'kun' or 'chan'."

"So when will you tell her?" The woman squealed.

"Once she's ready, or at least as ready as she can be by the time she's eighteen."

"Not that, I mean when will you tell her that you.. You know.."

"Okasan! Could you please refrain from suggesting things like that, at least when she's in the house?"

"You're not denying it," Amejisuto could practically hear the smirk in her words. "So it's true then?"

Itachi sighed and gave up. "Yes it's true, and it has been for a long time. Please don't tell Tousan or Amejisuto. Tousan will throw a fit and say 'Future Uchiha leaders must not have emotions' or something, and I don't want Eimi even slightly distracted when training. It would probably stun her a bit and she would feel weird," Itachi begged.

"You know her well," Mikoto smiled.

"More than anyone knows," the brunette heard him mumble as he walked towards where she was hiding. She panicked and ran to her room, hearing him enter his room a few moments later. She went in her bathroom and decided to take a shower to distract herself from the questions circling her mind. She still didn't understand what they were talking about, but had a feeling that it was something important.

She stepped in the shower after putting away her kimono really carefully and took off her necklace. She only had problems putting it on and would have to ask for help again after. "I'll just ask Itachi later."

She quickly stepped into the shower so he head could be a bit more cleared, even if it was for a few minutes. Mikoto's words rang in her ears instead of the great 'nothing' she had anticipated. _"When will you tell her? When will you tell her?" _"Ok mind, I get that I'm curious about his life, now leave me alone."

_'Maybe he loves you.' _ "Not possible," she said to herself, confused at the sinking feeling in her stomach at the thought of him with someone else. _'Is it because you're starting to love him?'_

* * *

_**BOOM!**_

Another bomb went off in Sunagakure. "Almost got caught by that one, Sabaku no Gaara, un," Deidara taunted.

"I will not let you hurt this village," Gaara growled, sending sand to form an arm, attempting to crush the Akatsuki member with it, or at least injure him. Deidara made a clay bird and jumped on it as it took off, sending a series of bombs towards the Kazekage, who jumped back on his sand. Gaara was quick but Deidara was even quicker, getting closer to the younger teen and throwing bug-shaped bombs.

"No need to fear, Kazekage, we're here for you, not the village, un," he smirked. _'Damn, I'm almost out of clay.' _ Gaara used his distraction as an opportunity to crush his arm with the sand, emitting a pain-filled scream. Deidara used his other arm to make the hard sand on him explode, and a few more at Gaara to escape away a bit.

He saw Gaara's sand cover him and deflect the exploding clay, and while he was busy, started constructing a huge bomb in an odd shape. "Art is an explosion, un. And this is C3 bomb is the best. You crushed my arm, I crush your village, un," he announced, letting the bomb increase in size and start falling. Panic was written across the redheads face as the bomb hurled below to the large village. He used most of his strength to pull up sand from the ground and surrounding desert to shield Sunagakure from the threat.

There was a large explosion as the bomb collided with the collected sand. Gaara smiled. His village was safe for now. He was just barely aware of another explosion as his sand raced up to protect him from Deidara. He inwardly thanked his demon, Shukaku, and its sand for staying alert. It sealed him in a bubble, and he thought he was safe until he saw small white insects crawling through the thick layers of sand. "No!" He yelled before they exploded.

The sand bubble slowly fell away, revealing a worn out, half-conscious, scratched up and bloody Gaara. He twitched a few times, trying to get up again. "You're a persistent one, un," Deidara commented, slowly flying towards him, knowing the Kazekage wasn't as dangerous. He backed away slightly when Gaara raised his hand slightly, moving his fingers.

Deidara looked down and saw the shield of sand covering the village moving. "Even when half dead, you do anything to protect your village. How noble," the blonde commented, allowing the eighteen year old to move the sand out to the desert and drop it there. He could hear the cheers and cries from the village below. _'For a jinchuriki, he's well loved.'_ "Well now you're coming with me, un," Deidara grabbed the now unconscious Gaara and flew off to meet Sasori at the village entrance.

"What took you so long?" The puppet master growled.

"He put up more of a fight than I thought, un," Deidara winced as he remembered his left arm was completely crushed. "I finally got him by slipping tiny bombs into his sand while my arm was being dismembered, un."

"Smart, for a bomb master who doesn't have the right perspective on art."

"Art is a fleeting moment of beauty! Un!"

"No, art is something that is preserved and lasts forever," Sasori argued. They kept bickering as they went into the desert, unaware of the Kazekage's brother subtly following their tracks. They made sure to make shadow clones and leave different trails, but they couldn't replicate the sand that was falling off of their victim's body.

"Don't worry, Gaara, I'm coming," said Kankuro as he followed the trail of his brother's demon sand. A messenger bird flew overhead, heading to Konohagakure. "If anything, Naruto-kun will help."


	9. Chapter 8

**Omg once again I forgot to update on Friday…  
Gah! My mind is a mess!  
To make up for it, I'll add an extra chapter tomorrow ^_^**

**Itachi: Seriously, she's been super busy.**

**Sakura: And whose fault is that? **

**Naruto: Don't blame only him. You kept her busy all weekend too**

**Sasuke: All of you did. Now stop annoying me.**

**Me: … Man, what a grouch xD**

**Itachi: Kishimoto owns almost everyone. Ameji own herself.**

* * *

Amejisuto awoke after a strange dream (something about a man turning into a weapon and her using him to defeat evil) and sat up quickly. A sense of urgency was running through her, but she didn't know why. Something just felt.. Wrong. There was a knock at her door before it opened and Itachi walked in. He looked slightly worried.

"Team Kakashi, you and I are going to Sunagakure right away. Gaara-kun has been kidnapped by the Akatsuki," he announced. "Pack lightly. We're leaving in half an hour at the gates."

He left her to get dressed and strap on an emergency mission bag. She quickly brushed her hair, put it in her usual ponytail and slipped her ninja hitai-ate around her neck. She went to the kitchen where Itachi and Sasuke were waiting and they were off in a flash. They met up with Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi at the gates. They all left quickly racing though the trees, ready for the three day journey to the Land of Wind.

"Good morning, Eimi-chan," Sakura half smiled, trying to make the mood a bit lighter so they wouldn't get as drained from depression and worry.

"Hey Sakura-chan. What exactly happened?" Amejisuto asked.

"Gaara-kun was kidnapped by the Akatsuki," Kakashi explained.

"I know _that_ already, but who exactly _are _they?"

"A criminal organisation that is powerful and gets hired for military purposes sometimes. Jiraiya-sensei has a lot of information. He said that they're planning something huge and the only way to stop the world from going into chaos is to destroy them," Naruto growled. "I don't get why they would need Gaara though."

The brunette felt sad for her usually-cheerful friend. His 'brother' had been kidnapped, and she knew Naruto felt responsible for him since he was his first real fiend. Plus, they both had tailed demons in them, so they knew how each other felt.

"Wait, maybe that's it!" She thought out loud. "Gaara-sama has a demon in him, neh? They might be trying to take it!"

The others looked at her with wide eyes, which seemed weird as they were all jumping through trees and could fall at any time. "You know, I think she might be right," Kakashi said.

"If they were for hire for military purposes, imagine what people would pay to have a tailed beast on their side," Itachi pointed out. The others all nodded.

"We can't be certain, but if that theory is correct, then be careful Naruto," Kakashi warned.

After that, everyone split into groups, trying to make the three day's travel not so treacherous. The girls decided to gossip about random things happening around the village and different medical things. The two teen boys started talking about training and almost broke into a few fights (but were stopped by Sakura's threat to punch them across the forest) and the ANBU members talked about different techniques for teaching. The first day of travelling was finally over and they set up camp for the night.

They had no time to set up or take down tents so they slept in light sleeping bags under the stars. The Ishi looked around and yawned before crawling into her warm zippered blanket. She noticed that her sensei was extremely close to her on the left side, and she couldn't fight the blush that was covering her face, reminded of what she realised the night before. Thankfully for her, it was dark and the fire they had in the middle of the camp made everyone's face seem tinged red and gold.

"Goodnight you guys. I'll take the whole watch, and tomorrow you guys can rotate, ok?" Kakashi said before opening the newest edition of his weird Icha Icha books.

"Goodnight," Sakura bid before falling asleep.

Naruto squirmed around in his sleeping bag before giving up on finding comfort with a sigh. "Night, teme, Eimi-chan, Kakashi sensei, Sakura-chan and Itachi-san."

"Hn," Sasuke answered before rolling over and falling asleep.

"Goodnight Eimi," the older Uchiha smiled.

"Goodnight Itachi," Amejisuto replied before they both fell asleep.

Kakashi looked over at them with an eyebrow raised. _'More familiar to each other than to the teams they were part of for long periods of time,' he_ thought._ 'This is getting interesting.'_

* * *

"Give Gaara back, you criminals!" Kankuro yelled once he caught up to the Akatsuki members. He spotted his bother lying on a white clay bird, unconscious.

"Go on ahead, Deidara. You've had your fun, now I'll have mine," Sasori ordered. The blond shrugged and hopped on the bird, taking off with the Kazekage. Kankuro growled and pulled out his favorite puppet: Crow. It had several blades and a compartment so someone could be shoved in him and stabbed. Sasori smirked. _'Puppet vs. puppet, eh?'_

The brunet sent off his beloved puppet, attaching invisible chakra strings to move it. It sliced at Sasori, who was still inside his puppet. "Ok, Hiriko, let's finish this quickly," the redhead mumbled to his puppet, sending out more chakra strings to a hidden metal scorpion tail. It swiped at the other puppet user, who leapt back and sent Crow forward to slice off a part of Hiriko's mask for tracking. He knew inside that he wouldn't be able to make it past this guy. He recognised the tail and saw a symbol on the side of it.

"Sasori no Akasuna, I won't go down without a fight, though you may be the second best puppet user in all of Sunagakure history," Kankuro growled, aiming a few blows to the other puppet's 'head'. The fight was short as Sasori wanted it; he sent out a poison tipped senbon while the Kazekage's bother was distracted on finding the body controlling Hiriko.

"Don't worry about dying now. It will slowly stop you organs over three days. _Then_ you will die," the Akatsuki member smirked before taking off, leaving Kankuro lying in the sand. He was already feeling the effects of the poison and cried out. "By the way," Sasori stopped. "I'm never second best. Not even to my Obasan. I knew you were talking about her since there was no way that you would brag about being the best before being beaten so easily."

He walked out of sight and Suna ninja came and rushed Kankuro to the hospital while he slowly died.


	10. Chapter 9

**Itachi's out right now and no one wants to talk so.. I'll just do it  
I own nothing but me x3**

* * *

The next two days of travelling went generally well for the ninja squad sent to help out Gaara. There were a few awkward moments -both mornings found Amejisuto cuddled up to her sensei, to her embarrassment and Kakashi's amusement- but otherwise, they rushed forward without any problems. No ninja attacked them, making the journey smoother. By the time they reached Sunagakure, they could tell that everyone was in a panic. Temari, Gaara's sister, greeted them and led them to the hospital where Kankuro was.

"We have so many problems right now," she sighed. "Gaara's been captured by the Akatsuki and the council members are almost convinced it's a lost cause to wait for his return, so they might elect another Kazekage. And then there's this," she pulled open a door in the hospital, leading Sakura to gasp and run to the patients side. It was Kankuro, twitching and gasping in immense pain.

"Get a tub of saline immediately!" She ordered.

"And who are you?" A doctor scoffed.

"Sakura Haruno, apprentice to the Hokage Tsunade-Shishou," she answered.

"You couldn't possibly be able to heal this boy. Not even Lady Chiyo could, and she's the best medic in Sunagakure!"

Sakura put her hair up in a ponytail and slipped off her fighting gloves before washing her hands. "Just watch me," she growled.

The doctors looked to Temari, who nodded, and fetched a tub of saline, setting it next to the kunoichi. "Keep those coming," she said before opening Kankuro's eye. "Pupils dilated," she took a stethoscope and listened to his lungs. "Rapid breathing," she clutched his hand. "Spasms." She turned to the bucket of saline and attached her chakra to it, letting it swirl in a bubble beneath her hands. "He has a steel type poisoning in him. It shuts down organs first and then blood stops flowing to the heart. I have just enough time to stall it before making an antidote," she explained.

She pushed the saline through his skin, leading it with her chakra. _'Find the poison, capture it in the saline, guide it out,' _she thought to herself. She had to order the other doctors to hold him down since he was struggling and writhing from the pain now. She let the saline stream out, following her hand to the tub before it splashed in. Everyone saw as there was a few purple dots mixed with the light blue liquid.

The others watched in awe as she did that on all other major organs. An old lady sat next to them, grumbling to herself. "She reminds me of the slug princess," she mumbled.

"Well Bachan _was_ Sakura's mentor," Naruto smiled. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, That's Haruno Sakura-chan," he pointed.

"I'm Ishi Amejisuto.. Wait.." The brunette turned to her sensei. "Do I introduce myself as an Ishi or an Uchiha? I forget."

"You introduce yourself as an Uchiha," Itachi answered.

"Ok!" She looked back at the old woman. "I'm Uchiha Amejisuto. That sounds so weird but so cool," she whispered the last part to herself.

"Uchiha Itachi," the older raven said.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Hatake-" Kakashi didn't get to finish before the woman attacked him, punching and kicking, spitting curses at him.

"You killed my son, you devil! Evil White Fang! He didn't have to die! Why are you still here?" She screamed at him. Kakashi didn't know what to do. He wouldn't fight back against an old lady, and he didn't know what she was talking about. All he could do was block and try to put up with her. An old man ran on the scene and held her back.

"The man who killed your son is dead and has been for over 20 years," he said. The woman stopped fighting and smiled.

"In that case, never mind," she sat down again.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi. You might've been talking about my Tousan," the Jonin said, still trying to process what happened. Apparently, it didn't occur to Naruto that his sensei could have a family, due to his reaction of yelling 'Kakashi had a dad?!' Leading Sasuke to sigh and call him an idiot.

"I'm Chiyo, a village elder. This is my onisan but I think we all forgot his name," the woman laughed.

"Even I forgot my name. Everyone just calls me Oji-san," the man grinned.

"The poison has been reduced. Now there are only a few traces and I have to make an antidote," Sakura announced, to everyone's astonishment, especially Chiyo's.

"The greenhouse has many medicinal herbs. We will escort you," the doctors said, leading Sakura down the hall and out of the hospital.

"I think she's surpassed the slug princess," Chiyo sighed in disbelief. "She's definitely surpassed me."

They sat around chatting for another half an hour. "Guys, I think he's waking up!" Temari shouted excitedly. Everyone ran into the hospital room to greet him. "Who did this to you?" His sister asked.

"S-Saso-ri no Aka-suna," the brunet choked. Temari handed him some water and he drank it greedily.

"He... He can't have," Chiyo gasped. "I thought you fought an Akatsuki member!"

"He is one," Kankuro said weakly.

"My grandson wouldn't even stoop _this _low!"

"Grandson?" Naruto asked.

Chiyo didn't answer and just stormed out of the hospital with her brother following her, flashing an apologetic expression to the Konoha ninja. "Well, _someone's _moody," Sasuke mumbled.

"Speak for yourself, teme!"

"Dobe, don't start a fight in a hospital."

"I CAN START A FIGHT WHEREVER I WANT!"

"Calm down, usuratonkachi. You're being too loud."

"I'M BEING PERFECTLY QUIET!" Naruto shouted before falling over with a bump growing out of his head and a furious Sakura standing behind him with her fist raised.

"Do you ever shut up? We're in a hospital! Be more respectful, baka!" She said in a threatening tone.

"Sakura-chan," he whimpered.

"I made the antidote. I also made two more just in case we run into him, which is a high probability." She went to Kankuro and gave him a shot.

"Let me go with you to get Gaara," he begged.

"No, you're too weak. Even I'm not going. I have an election to postpone until he gets back," Temari said, pushing Kankuro on the bed when he tried to get up.

The Konoha ninja were ready to leave the village, when Chiyo showed up. "I'm coming with you," she announced.

"Alright," Kakashi said, knowing he couldn't go against the woman. She would just hit him again...

They ran across the desert, following ninja hounds that Kakashi had summoned. They were tracking down the scent of Sasori from the sample that Kankuro managed to capture.

"So which one of them did you marry?" Chiyo asked Amejisuto, pointing to the Uchiha brothers. The Ishi blushed and almost tripped.

"Neither, I'm just an Uchiha apprentice and since it's rare, the last name has to be changed since I get to learn their techniques," the brunette explained.

"Hm, I was curious. You seem close to the older one though."

"Yah, he's my sensei. They were both close finds at one point though."

"Very interesting," Chiyo moved on to Naruto, asking questions on why he was so intent on finding Gaara.

"She's the type of person to probe into other people's lives and question everything. More in a pessimist way," Itachi suddenly appeared at the Ishi's side.

"Itachi, people constantly ask if I'm married. It's annoying," she sighed.

"Maybe you should wear a sign that says 'not married'," he joked.

"Hah hah hah," Amejisuto rolled he eyes. "Then everyone would be after me. I like that boys leave me alone. I'm not really into any of them and it's hard being nice and rejecting them at the same time."

Itachi silently thanked god as he heard that. He still had a chance to win her over, but for now, the mission came first.


	11. Chapter 10

**And as promised, a second chapter to make up for my poor sense of timing xD**

**Itachi: I'm back. Bought some ice cream...**

**Me: GIMMEEEE!**

**Itachi: ... I'll leave you to your frozen chocolate milk..**

**Me: Omnom...**

* * *

The dogs led them to a river with a huge boulder blocking the entrance to an obvious cave. They noticed a seal on the boulder and Kakashi quickly disabled it. Sakura ran forward and punched the boulder, shattering it into a billion tiny pieces, making Chiyo slightly and silently impressed. Inside were Deidara and Sasori. Deidara was sitting on a body, looking bored.

Naruto looked closer. The body was Gaara! He wasn't moving, and didn't look like he was breathing either. "About time you got here, un," Deidara smirked.

"GET THE HELL OFF OF HIM! I'M GUNNA KILL YOU!" Naruto growled. A red liquid seeped over him. His eyes turned from blue to red. His whisker marks turned darker and his teeth turned sharper. The red liquid was done covering him, and there was an evident tail from the back of the liquid and fox ears on the front.

"So that's the nine tailed brat," Sasori said. He was still hidden in Hiriko, but he saw Chiyo and by the way she was looking at him, he knew she knew it was him.

"LET'S GO, TEME!" Naruto yelled, the liquid turning into a hard shell. The blonde could still be seen, but just barely, as he attacked Deidara. Sasuke put in a second blow and released his fire ball jutsu. The older blond didn't quite understand what kind of danger he was in as he made a clay bird and jumped on it, taking off with Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi following him closely.

"Chiyo," Sasori snarled.

"What? No respect for your Obasan?" The elder crossed her arms.

"I don't like waiting. Shall we get fighting?"

"Absolutely. Sakura-chan, you must fight too." Sakura nodded and got into a fighting stance. Chiyo pulled out two scrolls and summoned two puppets. One looked like Sasori, and the other was a brunette. They both looked like humans with obvious puppet features.

"Uh, Itachi, what do we do?" Amejisuto asked. There were no more people to fight.

"Let's go get Gaara-san somewhere safe," Itachi said, quickly grabbing the Kazekage. They both ran out of the cave and to a meadow a few kilometres away. The brunette heard explosions and rocks breaking from where they left. Tying to ignore that, she put her head on Gaara's chest, listening for a heartbeat. There was none.

She started to tear up before trying to restart it by pounding on his chest. Itachi held her back and felt his skin. "He's really cold. He's long gone," he whispered.

Amejisuto stated to cry. She was one of Gaara's closer friends. She wasn't scared of him like most people in Konoha still were, and her, Gaara and Naruto used to hang out a lot. Itachi's heart broke at the sight of his apprentice breaking down and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her trembling body. She buried her face in his chest and cried even harder. The Uchiha himself found himself tearing up. He just couldn't stand death.

Time barely meant anything to them. When The other members of the retrieval group appeared, it seemed like they were waiting for only a few seconds, but at the same time, a hundred years. Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi looked worn out but not too damaged. Naruto was back to normal, but a bit bloody due to the hardened liquid that was now gone. They called it 'the nine tails cloak' since it was the demon's chakra surrounding him and giving him power. Sakura and Chiyo returned, both badly injured. Sakura had a deep stab wound in her side, in a place where it would be hard to heal, and Chiyo was limping and started twitching and breathing heavily. "She got hit by a kunai and refused to take the antidote since I needed it for the stab wound. Also, Sasori was a weird puppet," the pinkette explained.

"I had to.. Do something..." Chiyo stumbled forward and put her hands over Gaara's heart. "I knew he was dead, now I'm going to give him his life back." A faint green glow flowed from her hands. "I was saving this for Sasori if he ever returned, but he's dead now. I never thought I would be helping the younger generation, but it's your turn to shine," she said to Naruto.

He put his hands over hers and gave some of his chakra, seeing as Chiyo looked too weak. Amejisuto was still shivering but stopped crying. Itachi was still holding her, earning weird looks from Sasuke and Kakashi, but the brunette didn't care. She stared intently at Gaara, praying for him to breathe again. After a few minutes, he started coughing and sat up. Naruto cheered and helped him up, and the elder fell over.

A few tears formed in Sakura's eyes as Naruto also tried to wake the old woman up. "Man, she must be so tired. We should go back to the village and get her an antidote," he smiled. "Wake up, Obasan, Gaara's alive! You did it!"

"YOU BAKA!" Sakura yelled, punching him. "How can you be so dense?!" Naruto looked around at everyone, who had their heads down in mourning. "She.. She gave her life to bring Gaara-kun back with a forbidden jutsu," she cried.

Amejisuto pressed closer to Itachi and bit her lip to keep from crying again. She listened to the wind. Even nature was mourning the great sacrifice. A backup group got to the field consisting of Temari, Kankuro, Ojisan and other Suna ninja. "Gaara! You're safe!" Temari and Kankuro ran and hugged him.

"Chiyo-san has died," the redhead reported. "Let us all grieve and give a prayer." The Suna squad joined the others and bowed their heads. They carried her body back to Suna where the whole village could mourn the loss of their elder.

* * *

"Fix it faster, un! It hurts if you do it slowly!" Deidara complained as Kakuzu sewed his arm on. "Stupid Kakashi and his implanted mangekyo sharingan. I'm lucky he only got my arm sucked into another dimension rather than my whole body like he thought, un."

"Yah, you're lucky, but you won't be if you don't shut up and stop breaking things. I'm tired of sewing you back together," Kakuzu growled, snipping the thick cable that acted as veins in his body. He used them as sewing threads since he had great control over them.

"It's too bad that Sasori got killed. He was a good addition to the Akatsuki," Pain said as he entered the room. "Deidara, from now on, you will be partnered with Kisame. Next time, be careful." Pain and Kakuzu left Deidara alone in his room.

"Now who will I bicker with about art? Un," Deidara said sadly, already missing his friend.

* * *

"So, how did your mission go?" Mikoto asked as her children and Amejisuto walked through the door.

"It has been an exhausting week filled with sleeping on the ground, seeing a few dead people, and crying," the young girl answered, trudging to her room.

"What happened?"

"Three days running there at high speed, hunting down the Akatsuki, seeing a dead Gaara-san, watching an elder die to save Gaara-san, and three days running back," Itachi explained quickly before rushing to his own room.

"Ameji-chan cried a lot and Aniki was acting weird," Sasuke said.

That sparked the Okasan's curiosity. "What was he doing?"

"Since Ameji-chan was crying, he was hugging and comforting her. I've never seen him do that before." He got slightly worried as his mom stated dancing and squealing around the kitchen. He slipped off to his room before she could notice he was gone.

"Itachi, can I come in?" Amejisuto knocked on the Uchiha's room door.

"Just a minute," he called. He released the genjutsu that would trap intruders that weren't blood related to him and opened the door. His apprentice looked extremely tired and was almost falling asleep while standing. "You should sleep, Eimi."

"I tried, but I think I'm too used to having people around. Can you sleep in my room just for tonight?" She yawned. Itachi smiled slightly and nodded, following the brunette to her room. They crawled into her large bed and before her head touched the pillow, the girl was asleep. She had a death grip on his arm, keeping him close. Itachi found himself falling asleep quicker than usual too, going into a peaceful rest.

Mikoto peeked in and softly 'awed'. _'He should tell her soon. I have a feeling she's starting to feel the same way,' _she thought.


	12. Chapter 11

**Yay, I kinda remembered! Ok technically it's 2 am on a Saturday but only 2 hours late so not as bad as last time~**

**Itachi: You really need to set an alarm for when you have to update**

**Me: I hate alarm clocks. The last one I had startled me so badly I fell off my bed **

**Sasuke: ... Usuratonkachi **

**Me: Hey! You can only call Naruto that!**

**Naruto: Call me what?**

**Me: Only you can be called usuratonkachi.**

**Naruto: Hey! Only Sasuke can call me that!**

**Itachi: *facepalm* surrounded by idiots once again...**

* * *

"For today's training exercise, you will follow Kakashi-san around for an hour without being detected. Every time he notices you is another 'hour' in my genjutsu after," Itachi instructed. Amejisuto nodded and took off, concealing her chakra once she saw her old leader. He went into a book store and came out a few minutes later with yet another book from the Icha Icha series. Next, he went to the store, buying a few bags of groceries that went to waste when he dropped them and ran over to a poster.

"ICHA ICHA PARADISE IS BEING MADE INTO A MOVIE!" He yelled happily, skipping oddly down the streets to his house, forgetting about the food he had bought. The Ishi hid in the trees as she followed the silver-haired Jonin across the town, stopping at his house. "Hey Eimi-chan, what are you doing up there?" He asked. She silently cursed. She had been distracted by a squirrel.

"Well, my hour is up, so I guess I can come out now anyways," she mumbled, hopping out of the tree. "Thanks a lot, Kakashi-san. I have to spend an hour in Itachi's genjutsu now."

Kakashi smirked. "I bet he'll find a reason to excuse you from that punishment, or at least give you the least horrible jutsu he has stored."

"True, he has never really punished me and I've been his student for over three months," she agreed.

"And I have a pretty good idea of why," the copy-nin winked. Or blinked. It was hard to tell when his hitai-ate was always covering his transplanted sharingan eye.

"I probably know what you're thinking, and don't even go there. There is no way that someone like him is in love with me."

"Is it too much pressure? Too awkward to think about?"

"No, nothing like that," the Ishi sighed.

"Don't you like him?" He was making her feel too smothered in questions, making her uncomfortable.

"I..."

"Or are you scared of what might happen if he ever actually said it?"

"..."

"So I see you got caught," Itachi interrupted, coming into the clearing from the forest and saving his student from curling up in a ball and trying to hide from the probing questions. He noticed her uneasiness and glared at Kakashi. "What did you say to her?"

"Oh nothing, just trying to dig into her mind," the Jonin shrugged half-heartedly before walking off.

"Are you ok?" Itachi looked down at Amejisuto.

"Yah, but I feel like I was just interrogated by Ibiki-san," she murmured.

"Well, since you're not at your best in the mental state, I won't use my jutsu-"

"No, please do it. I got caught. If it was a real mission, my punishment might be death," she said. The ANBU member sighed in defeat. He was hoping he would never have to use such a jutsu on her. He activated his sharingan. "Look into my eyes," he ordered, regretting even considering using the tsukuyomi as a punishment. She gazed into his eyes, got trapped in the jutsu, screamed and collapsed after a second.

Inside the jutsu, the sky turned red and the scenery was different shades of black and white. She was tied up to a pole and people she didn't know were surrounding her, asking terrible questions and trying to dig into her mind, making her feel exposed and unprotected. She was tempted to cry out for Itachi and was shocked when she realised that she came to rely on him too much in the past three months. Sure, she knew he would probably be there for her for a while, but what about when the training was over? Would she be lost without him? The people kept taunting her and she couldn't move. An hour of taunting was terrible. She wanted to cry but found that she had no tears. _'This wouldn't be as bad as getting killed or physical torture,'_ she thought to keep her sanity as stable as she could.

The genjutsu world faded away to black. Her eyes flickered open and her room came in focus, and so did the man who sent her into the jutsu. He was sitting over her while she was tucked in her bed. "Are you ok?" He asked.

"I pity those who get caught in worse ones and for more than an hour," she chuckled weakly.

"It's only an illusion. In reality, it's only one second before you collapse. Some people get trapped for several hours," he said.

"Well the Uchihas are famous for genjutsu, so I'm not too surprised. How long have I been out?"

"Only about twenty minutes. This one time, I was sparring with Sasuke and trapped him in there for over a day. It took him almost a week to wake up," Itachi smirked. There were a few minutes of silence before the Ishi spoke.

"So is there any more training today?"

"No, your mind and body need to rest. You're not used to that jutsu, and it takes time to recover," Itachi got up and Amejisuto slid out of the bed, wobbling slightly. The raven held out his arm and stabilised her. She clutched onto his arm, feeling like a baby who was still learning to walk. They managed to get to the back garden for some peace and quiet. And tea.

"Itachi, why are you just sitting around? You've been slacking off on your duties as a sensei," Fugaku interrupted their rest time.

"I'm sorry Fugaku-san, it's my fault. I'll get back to learning right away," Amejisuto tried to get up but fell over. The Uchiha leader looked slightly worried, which was unusual due to his bad opinion of emotions.

"It was her first time in the tsukuyomi," his son explained.

"How long did you put her in for?"

"Only an hour."

"And this was her fist time? Itachi, training doesn't do much without punishment when something goes wrong," Fugaku said in a disappointed tone. "You're being too nice."

"Kurenai-sensei doesn't punish her students much either," Amejisuto defended. "And Kiba-kun, Hinata-chan and Shino-kun have turned into great ninja." She crawled back on the porch weakly.

"Yes, well the Uchiha techniques of teaching are different."

"Yes, Tousan, but she has to rest today. Her chakra is almost all gone," Itachi said. His Tousan nodded and grunted before walking off. He turned to his student. "Now, consider these first three months as just warm up. You're almost ready to take on some high level Uchiha jutsu."

The brunette smiled and clenched her face in determination. "Give me all ya got!"

"Don't get _too _hot-blooded," Itachi smirked. "You don't want to end up like Lee-kun and Guy-sensei."

"Ew! I'd rather free-style dance in front of people than have hair and eyebrows like them. Their brows are so huge and fuzzy they're almost alive!"

They both laughed and kept sipping tea while enjoying the silence and beauty of the garden.

* * *

"There's nowhere left to run, two-tails," Hidan smirked in victory. A blonde woman with long hair in a braid was backed into a corner, panting from running and fighting for so long. Her blue clothes matched the blue liquid that started to cover her as she transformed into a two-tailed, blue-fired leopard.

"You will never capture me! I will fight and win for Kirigakure!" She growled.

"Don't count on it," Kakuzu stepped out of the shadows of the sewer they were in, releasing a bunch of wires and effectively restraining the girl. Hidan stepped forward and cut her slightly with his scythe, licking he blood off of his weapon. His skin turned black with white shadows, like a discolored skeleton, and he drew a triangle out of his own blood, stepping in the middle. The two-tailed cloak was gone, leaving a frustrated blonde back in human form.

The white haired man stabbed himself in the gut, making the woman cry out and lean over in pain. Whatever the Jashinist did to himself, she would get the same injury. He kept adding cuts and blows until she was half dead and couldn't move before releasing his jutsu and becoming bored again. "I want to sacrifice her. It's been a while," he said.

"We need her alive for the extraction and she will be dead after. You can stay behind and find a suitable candidate, but make sure to not spend any money on anything," Kakuzu said, picking up the jinchuriki and carrying her over his shoulder. "Pain-sama won't be happy if you're late though, so hurry up."

They left the sewer and split up. The immortal man went into the city to find someone to sacrifice for his god, Jashin, and the old money-obsessed man went straight to the hideout. Once he got there, he found most of the members gathered in the main meeting room. "Where's Hidan-senpai?" Madara asked in his happy idiot voice.

"He's doing a stupid wasteful ritual for his stupid wasteful god again, right?" Kisame snickered.

"It's a good thing he can't die, otherwise I would've killed him by now for making me wait and wasting my time," Kakuzu grumbled.

"Well he can be informed of this when he gets here," Pain said. "I have an announcement about the plan to capture Itachi Uchiha." He paused for dramatic effect but ended up getting lost in thought. Konan nudged him after a while, making him straighten up again. "I will let Zetsu explain what he has learned first."

The odd plant man came out of the ground dramatically while the other members stayed unimpressed. He did that all the time, making them wonder if he even had legs. The dark half spoke first. "Itachi Uchiha is a kind, wise and exceptional ninja. He is a prodigy, making him one of the most powerful ninja in history due to his already advanced clan. He is also the next leader of the Uchihas, so he is respected and admired. He is also one whose disappearance would make a huge impact due to these factors.

I have watched him ever since he joined ANBU at 11 years of age, trying to find out his weaknesses. At first I thought it would be his clan or his title, but he sees the whole village rather than just his clan as his home, unlike other Uchihas. If his clan were to be killed, he wouldn't be one to have nowhere to go.

I then thought his weakness would be his brother, Sasuke, who secretly adored him so much, but if something happened to Sasuke, his whole clan would chip in in helping. I got frustrated and almost gave up on my mission, but then I noticed something odd."

There were two people who weren't his superiors that he couldn't say 'no' to. His cherished brother and his current apprentice, Amejisuto Ishi."

"I thought that she had only just asked him to be her sensei. They had a history?" Hidan asked.

"Whoa! When did you get here, un?" Deidara asked.

"Oh, right when the plant freak stated talking. I couldn't find any good candidates in that town."

"Anyways, please continue Zetsu," Konan said. White Zetsu spoke next.

"Amejisuto and Sasuke were friends in pre-school and the academy. Since they hung out a lot, Itachi was usually there to supervise since he wanted to be a great big brother. I watched as Itachi stopped supervising and started spending time with them and not just because of his brother, whom he could never say no to ever since he was born. I noticed that whenever the young Ishi would ask something of him, he did it, even if it was something that made him look ridiculous, ranging from piggy-back rides to taking her and Sasuke for onigiri or dango.

Over time, they all separated. She was assigned to Team 4, Sasuke was in Team 7, and Itachi spent his time doing month-long missions. He even started to distance himself from Sasuke, always telling him 'maybe next time' when he asked Itachi to teach him new things, but on the rare occasions that Amejisuto still asked him for something, he wouldn't hesitate to say yes. I recently realised that the past has an influence on him. He has been in love with her for almost ten years. Unfortunately, it's affecting her training. He's been called out on being too nice, and is probably going to train her harder."

Pain stepped forward. "So basically, she is his greatest weakness. Itachi would rather the village be destroyed than anything to happen to her. Our plan is to wait until she is unguarded and weak after an intense training session and capture her. She will be held here as our prisoner and the only way to keep her safe would be for him to join the Akatsuki."


	13. Chapter 12

**Hahaha I remembered! Woooo! Anyways, I think I'm gunna start moving these comment things to the bottom so you guys don't get sidetracked by my annoying nonsense! Not that most of you even read it. I sure don't with other people's if it's six hundred pages long xD**

**Sakura: Enjoy!**

**Itachi: Please comment if anything's weird or written incorrectly. It's kinda awkward if we don't find out soon enough **

* * *

Itachi and Amejisuto stood in the middle of the forest they liked to train in. There were eight targets along some trees and one behind a rock where they couldn't see it. The Ishi stood to the side as she watched her sensei take a few breaths and turn on his sharingan. He leaped high into the air, doing a half back flip, throwing six kunai in one direction and another three immediately after. The three hit the first round of them, sending all kunai in different directions. He landed back on the ground and they both watched as all kunai hit the middle of each target, even in the blind spot behind the rock.

"That was awesome!" Amejisuto cheered.

"That was a demonstration of what you will soon be doing."

"What?! But I don't have the sharingan! I won't be able to exceed my body's limits like you can! If I even try to stay in the air that long, I'll fall on my head and die," she worried.

"I haven't seen you use any hard jutsu lately and your weapon skills are average. While training to do this, it will help you to learn to manipulate the wind to make up for not having the sharingan, help you get better aim and strength when using weapons, and it will increase your agility and chakra control," Itachi explained.

"Wow, I never knew something like that would benefit that much," the brunette said in amazement.

"First things first: Manipulating the wind so you can stay suspended in air for a longer time. Do you have any jutsu that would help with that?"

"Well there might be something in the scroll Okasan gave me for my birthday. I haven't read all the techniques yet." They went back to their house and she got the scroll from the back of her closet where the other scrolls and weapons were. They sat down in the dojo and opened the scroll. "Earth cloak, grass bombs, how to speak the language of trees.. Ahah!" She pointed at a diagram. "There's a jutsu for floating for a few moments, though it would take lots of practise."

"I don't expect you to learn the whole kunai target method in a week, but you should set goals. One week to master that jutsu, another to improve on your target practise, and another to mix it together and perfect it," the raven suggested.

"That sounds good. I should start right now!" Amejisuto quickly looked over the diagram and stood up straight. She concentrated on trying to spread her chakra to the air around her body. Unfortunately, she tried that for several hours without taking a break and used up all her chakra. Itachi could see with his sharingan that the last hour of her efforts were mildly successful; some of her chakra could be seen seeping out and surrounding her in some areas.

He sighed as she collapsed yet again. "You really have to work on making a chakra reserve so you don't use it all up. This is the second time this week," he picked her up and carried her to the kitchen to make her some tea that would help keep her a bit more energised. It would be dangerous for her to sleep now, like if she had a concussion.

"I'll pay a visit to Okasan and ask if she knows any way to do that," the Ishi replied. "I'll do that after I finish this tea, actually. I should also visit Sora."

"Should I come with you in case you collapse?"

She chugged down the rest of her tea and stood up. "No, this time I left just enough chakra in me to walk, and this tea has re-energised me. Thanks for making it for me. See ya later," she waved. _'I guess today is the day I finally face her,' _she thought as she quickly gabbed something from her room and ran out of the house. Once she got to the Ishi district, she looked down at the thing she was holding. One 'get out of bet free as long as you admit I'm right' card that her cousin gave her for her birthday. She got to her house and knocked on the door, instantly being greeted by the bubbly blonde.

"Oh Eimi-chan! So nice to see you! And I see you have a certain little card with you," she said slyly.

"As long as I don't have to dance, I'll admit it," Amejisuto sighed.

"Go on, say the words," her cousin leaned closer.

"Alright, alright, but don't go around telling people or I'll put you in the hospital." The brunette took a deep breath and said the sentence that she had gotten used to saying many times before. "I admit that you, Sora Ishi, the master of bets and all things scandalous, are right and have won this bet." The blonde Ishi squealed and leaned even closer, anxious to hear her next words. "I, Amejisuto Ishi, have fallen in love with Itachi Uchiha."

* * *

"Deidara, Kisame, your mission is to capture the three tailed demon," Pain said to the bomb enthusiast and shark-like man. "It has no jinchuriki. It might be more powerful, but less intelligent, so use that in your favor."

"Hey! I just captured the one tails two months ago, un! Why do I have to get this one so soon? Un!" Deidara complained.

"I'm looking forward to it. The three tails lives in the large lake by Kirigakure. I used to go there all the time to train as a seven swordsman member," Kisame said excitedly.

"It looks like a large turtle," the leader informed.

"How large, un?" Asked Deidara.

"About twenty of your clay birds that you fly on."

"Awesome, un! The extraction will be easier too and there won't be any killing involved!"

"Let's go, girly boy," Kisame turned and walked out the door.

"Hey! Just because I have long blonde hair does _not _mean I'm girly! I'm about as manly as they come, unlike you, fish face. Un," Deidara ran after him.

"Really? How?"

"I'm a hundred percent human, un!"

Pain was left with a headache as the two walked down the halls and out of the hideout. "Well, no matter who he's with, he's not content unless he's bickering."

* * *

"Hah! I knew it! Well, I said you wouldn't last a month, but oh well, I bet a year!" Sora laughed. Amejisuto sighed and face palmed.

"Yes, well, keep it to yourself. I'm not even acting like I have any interest around him, and so far, my acting is working. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see Okasan for some advice on something."

"Is it advice for your _loooove _life?" The blonde teased.

"I don't have one, so shut up." The cousin walked away to go see her Okasan on the other side of the Ishi district. She was greeted by many people along the way and realised that she never visited until then and she hadn't seen her Okasan since her birthday. "Wow, time flies," she laughed. She entered her mom's home without knocking and made her way to the kitchen where she knew she would probably be having tea and snacks while signing papers. She was usually on a schedule and was predictable.

"Okasan," she bowed when the Ishi leader looked up and smiled. "I'm sorry I haven't visited in a while. I've been caught up in training and missions."

The older woman blew softly, making different vibrations in the air. It was the language of the wind; a secondary language for the Ishi clan. _"How is life with the Uchiha clan?" _

"It's fun but exhausting. I keep using up all my chakra by accident. That's the main reason I'm here right now."

_"What do you need?"_

"Itachi suggested I ask if there's a way to keep a small portion of my chakra locked away so I don't use it all up and pass out or collapse," the brunette explained.

The leader smiled. _"I knew it wouldn't be long till you would ask me. There is a way to store your chakra, but it only saves just enough for you to stay awake. You would still be weak and powerless."_

"Anything is better than things going dark and waking up a few hours later in my room. It's kind of embarrassing and I feel bad that Itachi sometimes has to carry me from the forest."

_"You always did use too much chakra. I don't know how you even made it to Jonin." _

"Okasan!" Playfully shouted the young Ishi.

_"It's a really simple technique," _Sirami stood up, performed a few hand signs and then sat down again. _"That's all you need to do before training or going into a fight. Now tell me, what does Itachi-kun call you?"_

"He just calls me Eimi. Why?"

Her Okasan smiled in mock innocence. _"No reason."_

"Well, I should go now. He might get worried if I'm out too long," Amejisuto stood up and hugged her mom. "Sayonara, Okasan."


	14. Chapter 13

**Ameji: I FORGOT AGAIN I'M SUCH A TERRIBLE PERSON-**

**Itachi: Calm down you aren't a-**

**Ameji: YES I AM AND ALL I'VE BEEN DOING IS SITTING AROUND**

**Itachi: Going to funerals, camping and visiting friends aren't considered sitting around**

**Ameji: SHUT UP I'M RANTING**

**Sasuke: Ignore this craziness and read the chapter**

**Ameji: SASUKE DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE TO THE FANS THEY DESERVE BETTER THAN US**

**Sasuke: She might be overtired...**

* * *

"Art is a bang, un!" Laughed Deidara as he launched a series of bombs at the large turtle's face. It was the only part of its body that wasn't seemingly made of stone, and once the clay exploded, the tailed beast was out like a light. Kisame touched the beast with his sword, Samehada, and sucked out its chakra to the point that if it used any more, it would die.

"That was way too easy," the shark man complained. "I know that they're not as intelligent without the human but I was counting on a battle with power. Not just flying over and launching five bombs!"

"Well it's over and we have to somehow get it to the extraction statue."

"I have to take a swim first!" Kisame ran and jumped into the lake, making his partner shake his head and sigh.

"Fish face."

* * *

"I finally did it!" Cheered Amejisuto.

"Step one, complete," her sensei agreed. She had successfully pushed chakra to the air around her so it was like an invisible coat, and it had only been the second day she tried it. The jutsu that her Okasan taught her worked, and even put a limit on how much she could use for each jutsu so she couldn't use it up so recklessly. "Now you just have to manipulate it to make you fly-" Itachi stopped talking as the Ishi pushed her chakra down, making her lift off of the ground for a few seconds and then land again.

"That.. Was.. Awesome!" She yelled.

"If you can master it in one day, then we might even be able to start the target practise earlier than intended."

"And then I just have to master your technique!" She started practising her new floating jutsu, getting higher and floating for longer periods of time with every try. Eventually, she got tired from the lack of chakra but wasn't completely out of it.

"Itachi, Ameji-chan, what do you want for supper?" Mikoto popped her head in the dojo.

"How about.. Chicken curry?" Amejisuto suggested.

"That sounds perfect!" The older woman beamed.

"Sure, chicken curry is really good," Itachi agreed. They all went to the kitchen where Fugaku was already seated. "Tousan, I didn't hear you get home."

"I've been here for a while," Fugaku replied. "I see that you're actually doing well in your mentorship. She's almost out of chakra and still regaining her breath."

"Hai, I'm training hard," the brunette admitted.

"Good."

"Well isn't this a rare sight," Sasuke walked through the door. "Everyone's already gathered here."

"Did something happen?" Asked Mikoto. She noticed there was a puzzled look on her sons face.

"Oh, just about the weirdest thing ever."

"What was it?" Itachi asked, his curiosity peaked.

Sasuke sat down at the short table. "I was sparring with Naru-dobe and it ended with the usual tie since we were so worn out. Both of us were lying on the ground to catch our breaths, and then the weirdest thing happened."

"What?" Even Fugaku was slightly curious.

"Hinata-chan came and asked Naruto out."

"WHAT?! Shy, innocent and sweet little Hinata Hyuga?" Mikoto couldn't wrap her head around it and focused on cooking to ease her 'how did that happen' thoughts.

"I never knew she had it in her," Amejisuto smirked.

"So? What did he say?" Everyone stared intently at Sasuke.

"He turned her down and said he was interested in someone else. Apparently, it isn't Sakura-chan either. Poor Hinata-chan," Sasuke shrugged. The Uchiha woman set down bowls of curry and rice in front of everyone.

"Well that was fast," Itachi laughed.

"I already had some made. I knew someone would probably ask for it."

"Are you psychic or something?" Sasuke said before taking a bite.

"Maybe I am. Or maybe I just have good intuition." She answered before joining everyone and eating. After, Amejisuto found that her chakra was half replenished. Curry _was _one of the foods most known to rebuild chakra quickly. She excused herself from the table and went back in the dojo to practise a few more times. Sasuke walked in when she was about three feet in the air.

"Hey Sasu-kun, I've been floating like this for almost a minute!" She bragged.

"Impressive," he admitted. She landed back on the ground and put her arm around his shoulders.

"So what's up? I can tell you didn't come in here to train or watch me float."

The youngest Uchiha sighed. "I couldn't say this in front of my parents and I know you would be willing to listen."

"Well Itachi would listen too," the brunette said.

"Yes, well I'm not ready to tell him. You're like a neesan to me, and they're the best with secrets, right?"

Amejisuto was taken aback. "That's true. I'm honored to be considered a part of your family. Now, what do you wanna talk about?"

Sasuke shifted nervously and sat down and the Ishi followed his lead. "Naruto told me why he turned down Hinata-chan. He said he was.." He paused, uncertain if he was ready to say. One glance at his 'sister's warm eyes convinced him. "He's in love with me, Eimi-chan."

"I knew it!" Amejisuto cheered. She calmed down slightly after seeing Sasuke's slight glare. "So, do you like him at all?"

"... Yes."

* * *

The Akatsuki were gathered once again, just finishing up sealing the three tailed beast into the statue where they kept the others. "Alright, Tobi and Orochimaru, go capture the four tails. You have two weeks. Go!" Pain ordered.

Everyone left the statue room where they had been for two days, since it took that long to seal a demon, except for the bomb loving blond, who just kicked back and threw tiny bug bombs in the air like mini fireworks, appreciating the vast amount of space until there was a ceiling. After a few minutes, he got restless and impatient. "Ah! It's so boring having nothing to do and no one to fight with, un! Kisame's probably planning with Pain-sama to capture Itachi. Wait, I just realised something! Why try to capture Itachi when we're already fine collecting the demons ourselves, un?"

"Because the last few will be the hardest, and besides, we don't want Itachi as our enemy. We would get destroyed easily," Black Zetsu crawled out of the wall.

"Where's your white half, un?"

"Spying. We thought it best to keep the black halved cannibal here where he can eat so many of Hidan's victims."

Deidara leaned back in his chair and thought for a minute. "Creepy, un. You complain about yourself in third person."

"Blondie, do you want to go help me get some food?"

"Hell no! That Jashinist would kill me if I touched one of his sacrificed victims, un!"

"Hm, you're no fun," Black Zetsu slinked off, leaving the twenty year old alone again.

He sat back and was silent for about five seconds before screaming in boredom. "Aah! I'll just go blow up that baka, Tobi, un." He left the statue room in search of entertainment, deciding on leaving small bombs in Tobi and Orochimaru's room, deciding against doing the same to Kakuzu and Hidan's, and Pain and Konan's since they would surely kill him. It was funny as he watched the team that was prepared to leave go back to their rooms as he detonated his bombs and there were a few girly screams.

"Sasori may have been mature though he was 15 forever, but he's gone so I'm now allowed to be the youngest and most irresponsible of the group," he said to the angry duo that exited their room that now had smoke pouring out of it.

"Watch it or I'll experiment on you," Orochimaru threatened before leaving with Tobi, Deidara left laughing as they stormed away.

* * *

**Ameji: Oh yah I remembered I would put stuff down here**

**Itachi: So you've calmed down?**

**Ameji: Yus! **

**Rock Lee: I have aided in lifting Ameji-chan's spirits!**

**Itachi: ...**

**Sasuke: Oh no not another freak!**

**Ameji: That's not nice!**

**Itachi: ...**

**Ameji: *Chases Sasuke around while punching him***

**Sasuke: Hey! No fair, I can't hit a girl!**

**Itachi: You're a ninja. You hit everyone all the time**

**Ameji: HAVE A NICE DAY/NIGHT PEOPLE-CHANS!**


	15. Chapter 14

"Hey Eimi-chan, did you hear that Team 7 is going on a month-long mission?" Sasuke asked. It was the day after his confession of his attraction to Naruto, and he already felt lighter after getting that off his chest.

"No, I didn't. What are you guys doing?" Amejisuto replied, turning her attention away from the targets she was setting up.

"We're guarding the king of the Land of Fire. He wanted the best four person team there was. Something about getting an assassination threat."

"That sounds boring, but also kind of like a month long vacation with a possibility of fighting. So, when are you leaving?"

"In an hour. Can you do that thing that most sisters do and give advice for my love life?" He smirked.

"Of course, though you have to call me Onechan," the brunette laughed.

"But I'm older than you. You would have to call me Onisan," the Uchiha joked.

"The big bother and the young lady relationship. Sounds interesting," Itachi said from the door of the dojo.

"Aniki, we were having a private conversation," Sasuke whined playfully.

"Alright, you have five minutes," the older brother said before walking away.

"Ok Onechan, please give me advice on how to have a good relationship."

The Ishi thought for a moment. "Well, I've never been in a relationship but I do watch people a lot, so all I can say is be honest and act normal. You two have been best friends for six years and are even closer than normal people since you've seen every side of each other."

"Well that makes sense," Sasuke nodded. "So, I was curious. Who are you closest to?"

"I think I'm closest to Itachi, though he hasn't seen my furious side. It's about as bad as Sakura-chan's," she smiled.

"Does that mean you like him?" Sasuke winked, making his 'sister' blush.

"That's not exactly what I meant but ok.."

"So is that a yes or a no?"

"Yes, I like your brother. Now, you better get packing for you mission, and I should get the last of these set up since Itachi will be here in a few seconds," she got back to putting up the targets and Sasuke left, passing his brother at the door and saying a quick bye before going.

"Are you ready?" Itachi asked, handing her a bunch of kunai.

"You're just sitting on the sidelines and not doing anything, so you can go if you want."

"No, that would be neglecting my duties as a sensei," he got comfortable way on the side of the dojo, praying that his apprentice didn't hit him with her weapons. He was surprised as she threw six kunai all at once, each hitting the target. Not the exact bull's eye, but still near the middle. "Ok, you aren't as bad as I thought you were."

His only response was a glare before she focused on hitting the middle. She was good at hitting it individually, but throwing more than three perfectly was hard. "Is it cheating if I use wind to guide it?" She asked.

"No, I guess not," Itachi said. "Anything goes as long as it's from your own talent."

"Sweet, I wanna test something," she laced her chakra in the air around the kunai, guiding each of the sharp objects perfectly and quickly to the direct center of each target. "Wow! I didn't think that would work so easily!"

"Almost no need to even practise, but what you just accomplished would be fine for normal training. Now you have to challenge yourself. Can you get them while blindfolded? Backwards? Can you do even more than six?" Itachi pressed, making her excited for that training. It would be a challenge and there was more than one way to do it.

She clenched her fist in determination, and Itachi could almost see the fire burning in her eyes. "I'll train until I can't move! I'll perfect it and make it look awesome too!"

"Heh. I never thought you could get fired up so easily," the sensei mumbled while smirking and heading to the door. "Sorry, I forgot I needed to see Hokage-sama for something, so I'll be back in an hour or so." He got a nod from the apprentice before she stated attacking the targets with kunai flying from all directions she jumped. He could feel the wind coming from her area.

Leaving her to her training, he left the home and an through the Uchiha compound, eventually leaping on a low roof and jumping to the next one that was slightly higher, roof-hopping to the Hokage tower like most ANBU had a habit of doing to avoid being seen and recognised. Itachi was always the exception in ANBU. Since he joined when he was young, everyone knew of him.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Hokage-sama," he jumped through the open window directly into the ninja leader's office. "I was watching my student train."

Tsunade laughed and shrugged. "I know how it is. Time flies when you're having fun training." Itachi wondered why she was being so nice. It was then that he noticed many little sake cups scattered on her desk.

"Tsunade-hime, have you been drinking?"

"Maybe a little," she admitted. "It's nothing I can't handle though!"

To avoid starting a fight, the Uchiha quickly changed the topic. "What was it that you needed to talk to me about?"

"Oh, I completely forgot! Let's see.." She looked down and saw a paper with something written on it. "You need to work on bonding with the nine-tails more so he doesn't stick you to Sasuke again, stupid!"

Itachi blanked. "That sounds more like something you would say to Naruto, Hokage-sama."

Shizune barged into the office with her pig, Ton Ton, following close behind. "Tsunade-Shishou! Please tell me you didn't agree to that bet with Jiraiya-sama!"

"What bet?" The raven usually didn't intrude on other people's business, but when the Hokage was drunk, things tended to get interesting and confusing.

"It was only to see if Naruto-baka and Sasuke-kun got married before Itachi-kun and Ameji-chan. I think that they won't, since the brooding boy is the type to be scared of commitment."

"What's this about Naruto-kun and Sasuke?"

"Oh, your brother didn't tell you? They're probably dating by now," Tsunade answered.

_'So _that's_ what he was talking to Eimi about,' _he thought.

"Shishou! You shouldn't bet against Jiraiya-sama! You always end up losing and having to go on dates with him!" Shizune urged.

"I don't mind, all he does is go on and on and on about his new books," the blonde Hokage yawned.

Itachi felt like he barged into a madhouse. "So, what was it that I actually needed to come here for?"

"Since she's so out of the loop right now, I'll tell you," Shizune said as her boss fell asleep. They both sighed.

"I swear, if Naruto-kun's like this when he becomes Hokage, I'll just run away. He would be even worse with his unpredictability and tailed beast," Itachi said. Shizune agreed.

"Anyways, she called you here for a warning. Jiraiya-sama got some information about the Akatsuki and found out that they're looking to recruit you."

"What?!" Itachi growled. "They're idiots for thinking that they would be able to get me willingly."

"The thing is, they're clever and powerful. They must already know you wouldn't want to go and work with them, so we fear that they might be planning something that would make you go," the assistant informed.

Itachi's eyes widened. "Amejisuto!" He jumped out of the window and ran back to his house as quick as he could, which meant he got there in less than a minute. "Eimi!" He called as he reached the dojo. The brunette landed from midair and looked over at him.

"Something wrong?" She worried, seeing the ravens panicked expression. He cautiously walked forward and placed his hand on her shoulder to see if she was really there and it wasn't a sick illusion that the Akatsuki could've cast in the few minutes he was gone.

"What was it that happened when you were five?"

"I accidentally got my dad killed by a wolf. Why?" She asked before getting pulled into a tight hug. "What's going on?"

Itachi shook his head, not wanting to worry her. "Nothing, Tsunade-sama was just worried that there was a thief in our Village that was transforming into members of a household and then robbing them once the others were out," he lied.

"Oh, then don't worry because if someone like that ever tried to imitate me, they would get a kunai in the stomach," she smiled, oblivious to his lie. "Now, can you please let me go? I want to show you something awesome."

"But I've only been gone for ten minutes," Itachi backed away.

Amejisuto winked and floated in the air. She made a visible stream of chakra and picked up ten kunai so they looked like they were on a string before whirling it around her. She closed her eyes for a moment before flashing them open and shooting the wind to push the kunai to the middle of each target. She landed again and turned to her mentor, who was obviously impressed. "I can probably do better, but I only had ten minutes to come up with that."

"Okay, so you're secretly awesome with mixing ninjutsu with weapons," Itachi smirked. "But can you do it while upside down and with your eyes closed?"

"I will work on that," she pointed. "I should practise my flips first." The rest of the day was filled with trying new flips and practising manipulating the air, figuring out new moves that would also be good for the battlefield.

* * *

"It seems like the Uchiha caught on to what we're planning," Zetsu reported. He _was _planning on kidnapping the girl but was stopped right when Itachi had barged in. He was ready to drag her underground with him when she would've landed.

"I bet that he now has a plan to keep his eye on her at all times," Konan sighed. They were in the leader meeting room so they could talk to Madara's clone (since the real him was on a mission) privately without everyone else figuring out who he was.

"Well, watching her at all times is impossible. He has to sleep and wash _sometime_," Pain reasoned, sitting on one of the comfortable chairs in the room.

"There is a simple solution to this problem," Madara, who was leaning on the door, smirked.

"What?" Asked everyone else in the room.

"We play dirty," the secret Uchiha said, clasping his hands together in an evil manner. He fell over when Hidan opened the door angrily. Not caring that he interrupted a meeting or that one of the members was on the floor, Hidan marched in, steam almost visibly coming out of his ears.

"ZETSU-BAKA! WHY AND WHERE DID YOU TAKE MY SACRIFICES?!" He yelled.

"I ate them," the black half answered calmly like it was everyday that an immortal was ready to kill him, which it pretty much was. The white haired man ran at him with his scythe. Pain stood up and tripped him, sending him unconscious on the floor.

"Anyways," Konan said, ignoring the chaos. "You were saying, Madara-sama?"

* * *

**Ameji: Dun-dun-DUNNNN! Betcha didn't see that coming! **

**Itachi: ... I think everyone knows**

**Ameji: Oh shut it, know-it-all. Let me have my fun!**

**Sasuke: And how exactly is this fun?**

**Ameji: *Throws kunai at Sasuke***

**Sasuke: *Runs off***

**Ameji: _That _was fun.**


	16. Chapter 15

Amejisuto let out a battle cry as she charged at her sparring partner, Neji Hyuga, with a fist ready to punch. Her opponent activated his byakugan, gaining the ability to see through her like an x-ray and locate her chakra points. He tried to jab the ones in her arm as she plunged her fist near his face, but leapt back at the last second, surprised that he couldn't touch them. There seemed to be a force-field or something that wasn't there before.

"Air manipulation," she smirked, noticing Neji's confused reaction. She had made the wind to be a shield around her, light enough to move but hard enough to keep people from touching her physically, but it could also be penetrated by jutsu still. The downside was it used up twice as much of her chakra when she used a jutsu herself. Maintaining the air shield was hard but was worth it when fighting opponents like Neji.

He realised this and tried to think of all the fighting jutsu he knew that wasn't physical. "Eight trigrams, sixty-four palms rotation!" He called, making a thin blue layer around him as he moved his hands fast enough to push out his chakra. It ended up looking like a swirling blue dome that moved quickly towards the Ishi, who was quick enough to get out of the way and strike when he was recovering some chakra.

"Water style: Water dragon!" She called, doing several quick hand signs. A large stream of water was drawn out of a nearby pond, forming a dragon, and cashing onto the Hyuga. He was almost defeated. Amejisuto took the opportunity to send a few kunai with wind directing them to stab around her opponent, hitting the clothes and pinning him to the ground.

"Another victory for Eimi," Itachi called. He had been standing and watching from the side, impressed as his student had won, not one but three, rounds against the Hyuga prodigy. "Good work on noticing his fighting style and making it so he couldn't get a hit in," he complimented.

"I'm exhausted," Neji complained.

"So am I. I used lots of chakra on that last water dragon," Amejisuto stretched. "Just enough chakra to keep me awake and moving."

"Let's go home then," Itachi smiled, ruffling her hair.

"Wait!" Neji called as they started walking. "Can you please un-pin me?"

The two laughed and helped the Hyuga before leaving to the Uchiha district. Mikoto and Fugaku were gone, working at the police station like usual, and Sasuke would be back from his mission in a few days. Everyone in Konoha had heard that Sasuke and Naruto were interested in each other and were curious on what would happen when they got back.

Itachi had stopped watching the Ishi like a hawk but still kept an eye out for the Akatsuki, just in case they showed up for some surprise attack. "I'm going to take a shower. I feel too gross from fighting three rounds without much of a break," she smiled, heading off to her room. The man decided to make a snack for them; his parents would be out all night due to a police force meeting meeting that was being held with all the ninja villages. Luckily, it was held in Konoha that year.

* * *

Amejisuto got to her room and gathered fresh clothes, tossing the ones she was wearing into the laundry hamper and hopping into the shower. She hummed happily as the warm water ran down her sweat and dirt covered body, washing it away. _'That battle with Neji was fun. Beating hot-shots are very.. well, does empowering work? Yah, it feels empowering,' _she sighed and stretched her sore muscles. _'It takes so much chakra though. I should work on making better strategies.' _

She quickly washed and stepped out of the shower, drying her long brown hair and putting it into a high bun before throwing on loose and comfortable clothes. "Where do we go, we go, oh, Lord I don't know where we go, we go, oh," she sang casually with her eyes closed. She kept humming as she walked into the main part of her room. "Ah, maybe I'll have a sort nap. Itachi can wake me up when supper is done."

She jumped onto her bed, rolling over and getting comfortable before falling asleep.

* * *

Itachi smiled as he added the finishing touches to the salad rolls that he learned how to make from a ninja in Kirigakure. "Some pork, lettuce, and now to wrap it up," he stated rolling the contents of the snack in two thin sheets of sticky rice paper. Once he was done, he nodded in satisfaction.

He set the snacks on the table and ate one right away. "She's been out of the shower for a while. It's probably safe to go in now," he got up and walked across the house to her room. "I should tell her today," he mumbled, thinking about what would have to happen once she was eighteen.

"Amejisuto, I made some food," he knocked on her door. There was no response and he waited for another minute before knocking again. "Must be sleeping. Fighting Neji is no easy task after all, let alone winning three rounds," he mumbled before slowly opening the door. He saw a small lump under the blankets on her bed and he tried to shake her slightly so she would wake up. He frowned when she didn't move at all. "Wake up, Eimi. It's not good to sleep for a long time during the day."

He pulled down the blanket and gasped as he saw a white figure that was _not _his apprentice. "Oh, well good thing I wasn't sleeping," it answered a bit too cheerfully. The Uchiha was taken by surprise and then realised that the enemy had succeeded. He silently cursed himself for leaving the Ishi alone when her chakra was gone and she was weak.

"Where is she?!" Itachi growled, his sharingan activated and almost glowing red.

"Don't worry, she's safe with the Akatsuki. Well, for now at least. I'm afraid that unless you come with us, her torture will start tomorrow. She won't die, but every day she will be close to death before our leader will heal her and start the torture over again until you decide to join," the white.. Thing.. Said casually. The raven started shaking angrily. "So what will it be? The world, or _your_ world? Which one will you betray?"

* * *

**Ameji: Hahah and this is the cliffhanger! Mwahahah **

**Itachi: Didn't you submit this story to your teacher and end it with this chapter?**

**Ameji: Yup and he wants to read more! My teacher is awesome**

**Itachi: I have never heard you say that before**

**Ameji: I DIDN'T UPDATE LATE! WOO! But due to this being the major cliffhanger point (and I'm slowly catching up to what I've finished) I'm going to update again only on Fridays now ^_^ **

**Sasuke: I bet no one wants to read your stupid story anyways. It doesn't have enough of me in it**

**Ameji: It has more than enough of you. Now go away**

**Sasuke: Hn.**

**Ameji: Hn!**

**Sasuke: HN!**

**Ameji: HN!**

**Sasuke: ... Fine. **

**Ameji: Goodbye ^_^ ... Now that he's gone... ITACHI YOU GOTTA MAKE ME SMORES!**

**Itachi: *Sigh* Ok.**


	17. Chapter 16

Tsunade sat in her office, bored, wishing that Shizune would stop removing her secret stashes of sake, or that she had something to bet on. She had piles of paperwork but decided that procrastination was better as she folded some blank papers into different animals.

"Tsunade-Shishou!" Shizune bust in the office, making the blonde woman stop her origami and look relieved that _something _was finally happening.

"Please, tell me it's interesting," she begged.

"Amejisuto Ishi is missing and so is Itachi Uchiha!" The raven haired medic rushed.

Tsunade slammed her hands on her desk and stood up. "What?!"

"I suspect the Akatsuki had something to do with this."

"Shizune-chan, alert the tracking ANBU. We were slightly prepared for this, but I didn't expect it would happen so soon," the Hokage ordered. "Get some Hyugas too. We don't know where the Akatsuki hideout is and they can see through-"

"Shishou," Shizune interrupted. "I think that we should stay calm for now and let the villagers think they're on a mission. Itachi-kun and Amejisuto-chan are smart enough to plan a way to get out."

The older woman sat down and rubbed her temples. "I suppose you're right. This is already giving me a headache."

"At least they didn't force him to kill his whole clan or something," the assistant said, trying to make the situation seem a bit lighter.

"Maybe they can even become inside spies. I could send Jiraiya to gather info."

Shizune nodded and smiled. Her pig hid behind her legs and sulked. "_Ooink._"

Tsunade turned and looked out the window with her hands behind her back. _'Just.. Please stay alive you two..'_

* * *

Purple eyes flew open, followed by a gasp from the kidnapped girl. She sat up and looked around. The room was different than where she fell asleep. The walls were red with a strange black pattern on them, and in the room was a small bathroom, a small table that had a bowl of steaming rice on it, and the bed she was on. "Where am I?"

"In an Akatsuki hideout," a creepy voice answered. Amejisuto looked behind her and screamed. There was a creepy man with a white eye and skin that seemed painted black. The weirder thing was that he only had features on the left side of his face. The rest was just a swirl of weird shaped goo, and he had some sort of plant surrounding his sides. "I would eat you, but I've been ordered not to. I'm Black Zetsu. My white half is probably talking to Itachi Uchiha right now."

"The Akatsuki?! But don't you capture jinchuriki? Why did you kidnap me?"

"To get Itachi-san to join, of course," the black half smirked. "Now, Konan-sama brought you some rice. I recommend you eat it unless you want to starve," he started retreating. "Oh, by the way, don't bother using chakra. We had it all sucked up, leaving only enough for you to stay alive, and put a seal on you. Only Pain-sama can undo it."

She was left alone, trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was bait for Itachi. "I may be an old friend and his apprentice, but that couldn't be enough to get him to leave the village for me, could it?" She decided to eat the rice after reasoning with herself that they wouldn't poison it since Itachi wouldn't try to save a dead hostage.

"Itachi, please hurry up and save me," she whispered before going back to sleep.

* * *

"How much longer is it to get there?" Itachi asked. He was running quickly and white Zetsu popped out from every seventh tree to lead him to the hideout. They were already in Otogakure, the hidden village of sound.

"It's only a few more minutes. I must say, I'm impressed with the speed of an Uchiha when a loved one is at stake. This should've been a full two day's journey instead of a mere eight hours," Zetsu replied.

"Yes, well I'll push myself to the limit when it comes to Amejisuto."

"Even abandoning your village for her. How sweet."

The last few minutes were silent as they arrived in the middle of a desert. The only things that could be seen for miles was the pale blue sky, dotted with occasional clouds, and the vast sand littered with rocks and boulders. Zetsu put his hand on a rock and twisted it. The big rock behind it vibrated a bit before a door appeared and opened, revealing a secret passage. The white half creature led the sharingan user down the halls to the meeting room where Madara, Konan and Pain stood, waiting for the arrival of the Uchiha prodigy.

"Uchiha Itachi, we welcome you to the Akatsuki," Pain said once the raven stepped into the room. Black and White Zetsu reconnected, making one plant creature again.

"I only came for my apprentice. Where is she," Itachi asked with a threatening glare.

"Right this way," Konan led Itachi to the room that Amejisuto was being held in. He calmed down slightly when he saw she was asleep and unharmed, walking across the room and sitting on the bed. She woke up and looked at him.

"Itachi?" She said drowsily.

"I'm here now," he wrapped the Ishi in a tight hug when she sat up. Konan couldn't help but 'awe' silently as the brunette nuzzled into him. "I was so worried. Are you ok?" he asked lightly.

"Except for the fact that the Akatsuki kidnapped me, yah I'm alright," the Ishi answered.

"Itachi-san, Amejisuto-kun, will you come with me? You need to get fitted for your cloaks," Konan hated to interrupt but they were on a schedule.

"Wait! I thought that you only wanted me? There is no way that I'll let you get her involved," Itachi stood up and stood in front of Amejisuto, prepared to fight for her safety.

"Calm down, Itachi-san. She would be partnered with you, and if you feel _that _worried about her safety, she can stay here, though it might be even less safe since she would be around men who have anger issues, bomb enthusiasts, cannibals, sadists, and a man who likes to sacrifice people," the blue haired woman explained. Though her explanation, the Ishi and Uchiha were more and more uncertain about their safety.

Itachi was silent for a moment before looking at his student, who nodded. "Ok, we'll be on a team," he sighed. Konan smiled and lead them to a different room where a man with weird wires coming out his arms was waiting. He quickly took their measurements and tailored two new cloaks to fit them. They left and went down the hall again, now wearing the uniform of the Akatsuki, to a room with couches and a big table. Pain and Madara were already there.

"I'm Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki," the former introduced.

"I'm Tobi! I'm a good boy," Madara answered in his childish goofy voice.

Pain did some jutsu and other Akatsuki members ran to the room. "Finally got the Uchiha, un," Deidara smirked. "I'm Deidara. Don't touch my clay or else you will die by explosion, un."

"Hey, you were one of the ones who killed Gaara!" Amejisuto yelled.

"Kakashi-san said he killed you," Itachi looked at the blonde oddly. "How are you here?"

"He only got my arm, un."

"I'm Kakuzu, but we already met," the creepy one with wire control said. "I'm the treasurer, so don't break anything or it will cost you your lives."

"You know me. It's great to see you two again," Orochimaru seemed to hiss.

"You came _here _after betraying our village?!" Itachi said, surprised that the snake would bother to cooperate with others.

"Shut up, it's my turn. I'm Hidan. I'm immortal, so don't touch my sacrifices. I can kill you but you can't kill me."

"You already know me," Zetsu came out of the ground.

"Kisame," the blue shark-man grinned before pointing to his sword. "This is Samehada. He eats chakra."

"And I'm Konan, the only other girl," the woman smiled.

"I'm Amejisuto, but Ameji or Eimi is fine," the brunette tried to make the best of their situation.

"You all probably know who I am, but whatever. I'm Itachi Uchiha, and if _any _of you threaten or harm Amejisuto, you will die." He turned on his sharingan to prove that he meant business.

"Relax, even Hidan wouldn't touch someone else's fiancée," Konan assured, as everyone glared at Hidan to let him know that they would each have pieces of him if he did anything to the 17 year old.

"His fiancée?!" Amejisuto asked, looking over at Itachi.

"Uh.. I didn't exactly tell her that part yet," the raven sighed and prepared to be punched.

"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" Without any chakra, she was still able to send Itachi flying to the other side of the room, making everyone aware of how powerful she actually was, and instantly knowing not to underestimate her. She had fire in her eyes as she walked up to him. "Prepared to die, _fiancée_?"

* * *

**Ameji: I'M SUCH A TERRIBLE PERSON I'm SO SORRY I FORGOT TO UPDATE AGAIN**

**Itachi: You need an alarm or something...**

**Ameji: I need someone to spam me with 'please update now' messages on Skype or something**

**Itachi: I'll tell Kori to. She loves a challenge since she can't remember much either**

**Ameji: WHY WOULD YOU LEAVE IT UP TO ANOTHER PERSON?! I'll just ask Stefan.**

**Sasuke: Hey, why is Aniki turning red?**

**Naruto: Could it be... _Jealousy_? *wink wink***

**Ameji: Lol no one should be jealous because of Stefan. He's like my older sister xD And Sora is my younger brother**

**Sakura: Strange family you got there**

**Ameji: ^_^ Yup**


	18. Chapter 17

Itachi winced slightly as Amejisuto bandaged him up. When he hit the wall from the force of her punch, he fractured his left arm. "Sorry," she smiled softly as she moved his arm a bit too quickly. Once she was done, she put the arm in a sling. "You should've told me that I also had to marry you. It's not like I would've changed my mind about being your apprentice."

"I wanted you to have a last year of freedom before finding out you have to be tied to me for the rest of your life," he winced again as he tried to make his arm more comfortable.

"You've known me for a long time. Tell me, have you ever seen me take interest in a boy or date anyone?" She said seriously, looking him straight in the eye.

"No, but I was gone for a few years due to being on missions most of the time. I thought you would've been dating then, since you were twelve and most of the girls in your class started liking boys," he said.

"That's because I never liked any of them."

They left the medic room that they were in and were escorted by Konan to their room. "It may be indecent, but all partners share a room," she explained before leaving them to the room. It had two beds with black blankets, two dressers, a bathroom, and a shelf filled with bingo books, dictionaries, thesauruses, and some classic novels. The walls, like everywhere else, were dreary red with black designs. There were already clothes in the dressers and extra cloaks.

"Well, I guess that this is it for now. I hope Sasuke, Okasan and Tousan will be informed by Tsunade-sama of our situation," Itachi sighed.

"How would she know?" Amejisuto took off her cloak and hung it up on one of the hooks near her bed.

"She was told by Jiraiya-sama that they were planning on capturing me, and Shizune and I figured out they would probably take you as bait. That also means that we aren't considered rogue ninja, just hostages that won't get a rescue team for a while."

"Oh. Well, can't we escape by ourselves?"

"Probably not. I'm not the only prodigy in the world. Kisame Hoshigaki is considered the tail-less tailed beast, Hidan is immortal, Deidara was a terrorist who can make bombs out of the clay he infuses chakra with, Kakuzu-san is over a hundred years old. He fought Hashirama-sama, the first Hokage. Orochimaru-sama was one of the legendary sannin along with Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama. The other three are new to my knowledge," Itachi listed.

"Whoa, Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama and Orochimaru-sama were on the same team when they were younger?"

"Yes, they must have been an amazing team. Anyways, back to our previous topic, how is it that you never liked anyone?" Itachi sat on his bed, noting on how it was decently comfortable. His student/partner did the same.

"I was just never interested. They either weren't mature enough, or they didn't catch my eye. I heard that you didn't date anyone either," the brunette smirked.

"Who told you?"

"Mikoto-san," The Ishi teased.

"There's a reason I never dated anyone," Itachi mumbled.

"You never liked anyone?"

"No-"

"There wasn't many girls who weren't Uchiha fan girls?" She interrupted.

"That's-"

"Oh! Is it because you're gay?"

"No, it's because I've been in love with someone since I was eleven!" He managed to say, silencing the girl.

"I'm sorry that you have to marry me, then," she said sadly.

Itachi realised his small mistake in words. Amejisuto give a fake smile and nod before walking to the door. He squeezed his eyes shut. _'What the hell, why not? Our engagement is out in the open so why not admit it?' _ His body moved quickly, blocking the door and leaning down so he was face to face with her. "I apologise, I forgot to mention that it's you," he whispered in her ear.

"Wha-?" She asked, slightly dazed.

"Amejisuto," he moved so he was looking her in the eye again. "I love you."

* * *

"What do you mean my son has joined the Akatsuki?!" Fugaku asked furiously. He had gone home to find Itachi and Amejisuto gone and went to ask the Hokage why.

"He showed no sign of being unhappy with Konoha," Mikoto said timidly, trying to think of a reason why her precious eldest son would leave.

"It's nothing like that, Uchiha-san," Tsunade sighed. "They kidnapped Amejisuto-chan at a time when she was alone and defenceless, and Itachi went after her. They will probably be with them for a while, gain their trust, learn their secrets and escape."

"So, like enemy spies?" Fugaku calmed down.

"Yes. They are not missing-nin and are still loyal to us. The Akatsuki just play dirty," the blonde put her head on her desk. "I'll have to tell everyone else that they're on a mission. Can you do that too, please?"

Mikoto and Fugaku nodded and were dismissed. "He takes things too far sometimes," the Uchiha leader growled.

"No, he's doing what he wants to do," his sweet wife smiled a bit.

"Just because she's his responsibility and his future bride does not mean he has to go join the enemy to rescue her. If she was truly powerful, she could get out of there herself. Hasn't he taught her anything?"

Mikoto stopped in the street. "Fugaku, would you do that for me?"

"Do what? And why are you in the middle of the road?"

"Would you join the enemy to get me back if they stole me?"

Fugaku kept walking. "Possibly."

"Well then our son loves Eimi-chan more than you love me," his wife said, catching up to him. She giggled at his stunned expression. "What? You didn't know that you set him up with someone he would be willing to marry anyway?"

* * *

"Itachi," Amejisuto whispered.

"Yes?"

"Where are the cameras?"

The Uchiha was confused. "What cameras?"

"You know, the ones that videotape this and put it on a show. The man to say 'gotcha' is late too," she looked around and opened the door to check up and down the halls.

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Itachi, aren't we on a prank show or something?"

"Why would we be?" Itachi stopped her from moving around the room more, holding her in place.

"There is _no way _that someone like you," she pointed to him to emphasise, "could be in love with someone like me for eleven years."

"I'm not kidding, Eimi," he assured.

"But-" She was cut off by a quick kiss.

"I don't think it's funny to toy with other people's emotions, so why would I joke about something like this?" He asked.

The brunette slowly regained brain functions. "You.." She paused. "You stole my first kiss, you jerk!"

"Oh, sorry..." Itachi backed up slightly, hoping not to be punched again.

"It's ok. Just ask next time," she mumbled.

"Next time?"

"I didn't tell you?" She walked to her drawer. "I must've forgot. Well anyways, I'm going to take a shower. Getting kidnapped is really stressful," she went into the bathroom and closed the door.

"Forgot what?"

She poked her head out of the bathroom. "I love you too, Itachi," she blushed before retreating.

* * *

**Ameji: And there we have it! Confessions!**

**Itachi: Do we even have cameras and TV shows in that world?**

**Ameji: Who cares? You love me more than your dad loves your mom! Wich I would believe whole-heartedly even if you weren't in love with me**

**Itachi: Yah- Wait, what?**

**Naruto: He doesn't really seem like the type of person to love anyone**

**Itachi: ... **

**Sasuke: Yah, I guess you're right**

**Itachi: ...**

**Ameji: Oh no.. I broke him**

**Itachi: YOU BROKE MY CHILDHOOD**

**Ameji: Lol**

**Sasuke: Lol**

**Naruto: Lol**

**Itachi: ( ͡; ͜ʖ ͡; )**


End file.
